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- In contemporary English, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.), the word “whelm” means to submerge or overwhelm. Oxford Dictionaries online offers this example of “whelm” used in the sense of submerge: “a swimmer whelmed in a raging storm.”
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Whelm is a derived term of overwhelm. As verbs the difference between overwhelm and whelm is that overwhelm is to engulf, surge over and submerge while whelm is to cover; to submerge; to engulf; to bury.
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Nov 5, 2014 · In contemporary English, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.), the word “whelm” means to submerge or overwhelm. Oxford Dictionaries online offers this example of “whelm” used in the sense of submerge: “a swimmer whelmed in a raging storm.”
Whelm is labeled as "archaic" in NOAD, as it has fallen out of use. Left in its wake are the would-be superlative overwhelm (which, rather than actually meaning "more than whelmed", has simply taken over its parent's definition) and its opposite underwhelm .
Searches related to does whelm mean overwhelm or fall
The meaning of WHELM is to turn (something, such as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something : cover or engulf completely with usually disastrous effect. How to use whelm in a sentence.
To underwhelm means, simply, to fail to impress or make a positive impact on, without any of the meanings to do with flooding or defeat. In other words, underwhelm evolved from overwhelm and not, curiously, from the rarely-used root word whelm at all. Stop making those embarrassing mistakes!
- Simon Kewin
1. : upset, overthrow. The tornado overwhelmed many mobile homes. 2. a. : to cover over completely : submerge. The city was overwhelmed by the flooding caused by the hurricane. b. : to overcome by superior force or numbers. The city was overwhelmed by the invading army. c. : to overpower in thought or feeling. overwhelmed with grief.
(of water) to flow, or to flow over and cover something or someone : The flowers bloomed and the brook whelmed up from its source. the whelming waters / waves. The ocean whelmed them all. Fewer examples. Rocked by the waves, the boat was whelmed. They charted the dangerous paths of the whelming ocean. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.
