In the summer of 1993, record rains in the Midwest caused the Mississippi River to overflow its banks, break through levees, and inundate the entire countryside; such an inundation hadn't been seen for at least a hundred years. By contrast, the Nile River inundated its entire valley every year, bringing the rich black silt that made the valley one of the most fertile places on earth. (The inundations ceased with the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1970.) Whenever a critical issue is being debated, the White House and Congressional offices are inundated with phone calls and emails, just as a town may be inundated with complaints when it starts charging a fee for garbage pickup.
Rising rivers could inundate low-lying areas.
water from the overflowing bathtub inundated the bathroom floor
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
High tides inundated Southern California communities with water on Monday, flooding streets from Newport Beach to Long Beach, as the region braces for days of coastal flooding from near-record or record-high sea levels this week.—
Hannah Fry,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Oct. 2026 Cardenas in Bakersfield, for example, said he has been inundated with Valadao campaign advertisements but knows little about Villegas.—
Mathew Miranda,
Sacbee.com,
26 Oct. 2026 The store was inundated with a foot of water during a smaller king tide event last month.—
Ted Scouten,
CBS News,
22 Oct. 2026 Further calamity struck in June 2023 when floodwaters inundated the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military, killing hundreds of residents.—ABC News,
17 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for inundate
Word History
Etymology
Latin inundatus, past participle of inundare, from in- + unda wave — more at water