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INUNDATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land
Example:
plains fertilized by annual inundations
Synonyms:
alluvion; deluge; flood; inundation
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("inundation" is a kind of...):
geological phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the structure or composition of the earth)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inundation"):
debacle (flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river during the spring or summer)
flash flood; flashflood (a sudden local flood of great volume and short duration)
Noachian deluge; Noah's flood; Noah and the Flood; the Flood ((Biblical) the great deluge that is said in the Book of Genesis to have occurred in the time of Noah; it was brought by God upon the earth because of the wickedness of human beings)
Derivation:
inundate (fill or cover completely, usually with water)
inundate (fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An overwhelming number or amount
Example:
a torrent of abuse
Synonyms:
deluge; flood; inundation; torrent
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("inundation" is a kind of...):
batch; deal; flock; good deal; great deal; hatful; heap; lot; mass; mess; mickle; mint; mountain; muckle; passel; peck; pile; plenty; pot; quite a little; raft; sight; slew; spate; stack; tidy sum; wad ((often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent)
Derivation:
inundate (fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid)
