overwhelming

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌoʊvɚˈ(h)wɛlmɪŋ/
• IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

overwhelming

1. present participle of overwhelm

Adjective

overwhelming (comparative more overwhelming, superlative most overwhelming)

1. Overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong.
   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades.

2. Very great or intense.
3. Extreme.

Antonyms

• underwhelming

Derived terms

• overwhelmingly
• overwhelmingness

Translations

overpowering

• Arabic: غَالِب (ḡālib)
• Catalan: aclaparador
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 压倒性的 (yā dǎo xìng de)

• Dutch: overweldigend (nl)
• Finnish: musertava
• French: accablant (fr)
• Georgian: უძლეველი (uʒleveli), დაუძლეველი (dauʒleveli), გადამეტებული (gadameṭebuli)
• German: überwältigend (de)
• Greek: συντριπτικός (el) (syntriptikós)
• Hungarian: túlnyomó (hu), elsöprő
• Icelandic: feikilegur (is)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: kewalahan (id)
• Italian: schiacciante (it), soverchiante (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overveldende

  Nynorsk: overveldande

• Portuguese: irresistivelmente forte, exageradamente maior, esmagador (pt), avassalador (pt)
• Romanian: copleșitor (ro), covârșitor (ro)
• Russian: ошеломля́ющий (ru) (ošelomljájuščij), подавля́ющий (ru) (podavljájuščij)
• Spanish: abrumador (es), agobiante (es), imponente (es), apabullante, avasallador (es) m, arrollador (es) m, aplastante (es) m
• Swedish: överväldigande (sv)
• Turkish: baskın (tr), (law) ezici (tr), çok büyük

Noun

overwhelming (plural overwhelmings)

1. A situation of being overwhelmed.
   • 2013, David Ford, Theology: A Very Short Introduction (page 9)

     They have centuries of premodern experience in coping with being overwhelmed in multiple ways—not only by God, but also by other overwhelmings that have always been part of the human condition, such as disease, famine, war […]