inundation

Language: en

🇺🇸 /ˌɪnəˈndeɪʃən/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The act of inundating or the state of being inundated; a flood or overflow of water covering land that is normally dry.; An overwhelming abundance or excess of something, as if flooding in like water.; The deliberate flooding of land for military purposes, such as to impede enemy movement.; The annual overflowing of the Nile River in ancient Egypt, which deposited fertile silt on the surrounding land.; A geological or geographical event in which a large area is submerged by water, such as a marine transgression.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable / uncountable Plural: inundations

Collocations

inundation ofsudden inundationinundation zoneinundation arearisk of inundation

Derivatives

inundateinundatedinundating

Synonyms

flooddelugeoverflowtorrentsurgeswamping

Antonyms

droughtdryness

Commonly confused

irrigation
EN: 'Irrigation' is the deliberate supply of water to land for agriculture; 'inundation' is an overwhelming, often destructive, flooding.
invasion
EN: 'Invasion' refers to an aggressive entry (military or figurative); 'inundation' specifically refers to flooding or an overwhelming quantity.

Spelling tips

EN: Do not double the 'n'—it is 'inundation', not 'innundation'. The root is Latin 'inundare' (in + unda, meaning 'wave').

💬 Examples

  1. The inundation of the river valley destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced thousands of residents.

  2. The company faced an inundation of customer complaints after the product recall.

  3. The Dutch used inundation as a defensive strategy, flooding the lowlands to halt the advancing army.

  4. The ancient Egyptians based their agricultural calendar on the predictable inundation of the Nile.

  5. The geological record shows evidence of a major marine inundation during the Cretaceous period.