Synonyms of engulf

engulf

verb

in-ˈgəlf 

as in to flood

to cover with a flood

high waves from the hurricane engulfed large areas of the coastal community

Synonyms & Similar Words

• flood
• overwhelm
• drown
• submerge
• inundate
• gulf
• swamp
• overflow
• deluge
• overcome
• submerse
• flush
• smother
• overrun
• flow
• wet
• stream
• avalanche
• spurt
• drench
• gush
• pour
• soak
• douse
• sluice
• spout

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• drain
• dry
• dehydrate
• parch

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of engulf

The timing of her return surely coincides with the circumstances surrounding her near death and the grim mysteries that have engulfed the slow horses. — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2026

Milestones evoking 2007 tend to make investors squeamish, conjuring up unpleasant memories of the financial crisis that engulfed global markets in 2008. — Fred Imbert, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026

The mines are among thousands of small-scale and informal mines scattered across Sudan, which has been engulfed in a war that has at times pushed parts of the country into famine. — ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026

In 1948 de Kooning was a decade into her relationship with her husband, Willem de Kooning, and at the center of a cyclone of making and talking and looking that engulfed New York artists of the 1930s and 1940s, from Arshile Gorky to Franz Kline. — Jarrett Earnest, The New York Review of Books, 19 Sep. 2026