Library / English Dictionary

SUBMERGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill or cover completely, usually with water

Synonyms:

deluge; inundate; submerge

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "submerge" is one way to...):

flood (cover with liquid, usually water)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

submergence (sinking until covered completely with water)

submergible (capable of being immersed in water or functioning while submerged)

submerging (sinking until covered completely with water)

submersible (capable of being immersed in water or functioning while submerged)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cover completely or make imperceptible

Example:

The noise drowned out her speech

Synonyms:

drown; overwhelm; submerge

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "submerge" is one way to...):

cover; spread over (form a cover over)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put under water

Example:

submerge your head completely

Synonyms:

submerge; submerse

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "submerge" is one way to...):

immerse; plunge (thrust or throw into)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

submergence (sinking until covered completely with water)

submergible (capable of being immersed in water or functioning while submerged)

submerging (sinking until covered completely with water)

submersible (capable of being immersed in water or functioning while submerged)

submersion (the act of wetting something by submerging it)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Sink below the surface; go under or as if under water

Synonyms:

submerge; submerse

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "submerge" is one way to...):

go down; go under; settle; sink (go under)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "submerge"):

dive (plunge into water)

drown (be in danger of dying from submersion in a liquid and asphyxiation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

submergence (sinking until covered completely with water)

submergible (capable of being immersed in water or functioning while submerged)

submerging (sinking until covered completely with water)

submersible (capable of being immersed in water or functioning while submerged)

submersion (sinking until covered completely with water)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Then—oh! how shall one describe what took place then—when the full exuberance of the majority and the full reaction of the minority united to make one great wave of enthusiasm, which rolled from the back of the hall, gathering volume as it came, swept over the orchestra, submerged the platform, and carried the four heroes away upon its crest?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I thought, a change—he seemed to swell—his face became suddenly black and the features seemed to melt and alter—and the next moment, I had sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arms raised to shield me from that prodigy, my mind submerged in terror.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

At a particularly bad spot, where a ledge of barely submerged rocks jutted out into the river, Hans cast off the rope, and, while Thornton poled the boat out into the stream, ran down the bank with the end in his hand to snub the boat when it had cleared the ledge.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It is widely accepted that humans first made their way to the Americas from Siberia into Alaska via a land bridge spanning the Bering Strait which was submerged at the end of the last Ice Age.

(DNA from 31,000-year-old milk teeth leads to discovery of new group of ancient Siberians, University of Cambridge)

To conduct the research, containers were filled with varying ratios of rocks and organic material - consisting of deciduous and coniferous litter from nearby forests - and submerged in the shallow waters of the two lakes.

(Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater ecosystems, University of Cambridge)

One gleam of light lifted into relief a half-submerged mast, on which sat a cormorant, dark and large, with wings flecked with foam; its beak held a gold bracelet set with gems, that I had touched with as brilliant tints as my palette could yield, and as glittering distinctness as my pencil could impart.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mars will sometimes stir the pot in an effort to clear the air of any submerged feelings of frustration that may have festered.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

After a nine-week voyage to study the lost, submerged continent of Zealandia in the South Pacific, a team of 32 scientists from 12 countries has arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution.

(Scientists return from expedition to lost continent of Zealandia, National Science Foundation)

My incredulity was submerged in fascination now; it was like skimming hastily through a dozen magazines.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)