Definition of flood in English:

flood

Translate flood into Spanish

Pronunciation /fləd/

noun

1An overflowing of a large amount of water beyond its normal confines, especially over what is normally dry land.
as modifier ‘a flood barrier’
- ‘in a thousand miles the flood destroyed every bridge’
- ‘people uprooted by drought or flood’
- ‘The main cause of flooding in the city centre is the use of flood barriers beyond the city centre.’
- ‘‘We don't know whether the bridge can cope with that amount of water during a flood and it could eventually collapse,’ he said.’
- ‘Areas on the map are given low, moderate or significant risk ratings according to their location, the predicted water levels and the flood defences in place.’
- ‘Residents in Chapel Street and The Sands were evacuated to the town's Public Hall as the water level rose to just two inches below the flood protection barriers.’
- ‘Here droughts, floods and locusts destroy crops and rinderpest kills cattle.’
- ‘When Cawood faced severe flooding in 2000, club members pumped away water seeping through the flood defences for three days.’
- ‘Firefighters, police, council workers and Thames Water joined forces to fight back the flood and limit the damage.’
- ‘These include running off large volumes of silt-laden water during the flood season, from May to September.’
- ‘The receding of the water from the dry land after the flood sounds like the second and third days of Creation.’
- ‘The agency has launched an online advice service for small to medium-sized businesses to limit the flood threat.’
- ‘The bridge was destroyed by floods in 1723 and a new one built in 1775.’
- ‘Dissatisfied with these giants, Virococha caused a great flood, whose waters still remain in Titicaca.’
- ‘With flood irrigation, the water table near the creek is raised, that is, the amount of water in the soil is increased.’
- ‘You need to know how to cut off your water supply in a flood.’
- ‘Once you break the rim of the bowl and the water pours in, it's not like an ordinary flood, where the water comes and it goes.’
- ‘We just couldn't see a thing and all the time there was water coming like a flood behind us, and smoke and fires.’
- ‘These initial releases were not successful, because all the plots were destroyed by herbicides, floods, or droughts.’
- ‘They bear the cost of droughts, floods, and trade barriers into Europe.’
- ‘Water logging and floods are invariably the fallout during rains.’
- ‘He said people in the area were very hard working but they were being frustrated by natural calamities such as drought and floods which were destroying the crops before they matured.’
inundation, swamping, deluge
View synonyms
1. 1.1the FloodThe biblical flood brought by God upon the earth because of the wickedness of the human race (Gen. 6 ff.).
  ‘This changed only at the Flood, where God told Noah.’
  ‘There was the Flood, for example, in Noah's time.’
  ‘When asked about the Flood and Noah's Ark, he said that that was a myth.’
  ‘While Star Trek's ‘Methuselah’ reforms, the Biblical Methuselah was done away with in the Flood.’
  ‘However, a finite radiocarbon ‘age’ for this fossil wood is neither inconsistent nor unexpected within a Creation / Flood framework of Earth history.’
  ‘In fact, we point out that it is an important part of the Biblical Creation / Flood model.’
  ‘In the Creation / Fall / Flood / Dispersion model of earth history, some very substantial changes have happened in what, to evolutionists, is an ultra-short time.’
  ‘It may surprise uninformed evolutionists, but rapid diversification is an implicit prediction of the biblical Creation / Fall / Flood / Migration model.’
  ‘Many geological problems remain unsolved in the Creation / Flood model of earth history.’
  ‘Dinosaurs were too big to go on the Ark, so they got buried in the mud of the Flood.’
  ‘The Flood may have stacked the rock like a giant layer cake, but what cut the cake?’
  ‘Conversely, the era of most distant Godliness was the epoch of Noah's Flood.’
  ‘So what did Christ teach about Creation and Noah's Flood?’
  ‘Mount Everest and the Himalayan mountain chain did not exist at the time of Noah's Flood.’
  ‘In fact, various Indian tribes around the world, the Australian aborigines, and other cultures have legends handed down from their ancestors that sound like the creation / Flood accounts in Genesis.’
  ‘The Creation / Flood scenario for fossilization would allow many centuries for such permineralization to occur, even under less than ideal conditions.’
  ‘The Walk the Plank theatre company will be staging a family show based upon the Biblical tale and the great flood.’
2. 1.2The inflow of the tide.
  ‘Caused by a tall underwater pinnacle, the effect is most evident when a strong westerly wind catches a flood or ebb tide.’
  ‘Yarmouth North Beach is an ebb tide mark, Caister produces fish on both flood and ebb tides, but any beach will give cod in the right conditions.’
  ‘Additional samples were collected near Nauset Inlet on flood and ebb tides and during the day and night at Nauset Harbor and Town Cove stations.’
  ‘With little tide run after first flood, bites signal on the rod tip as several nods, often confusing you into thinking it might be a huss.’
  ‘In a salt-wedge estuary, the river water, because of its lower density, rides over a wedge of salt water which moves short distances up and down the estuary in response to the weak flood and ebb of the tide.’
  ‘It had to be constantly compensated for, and dealt with, in the sense of gauging the force of Current and considering the ebb or flood of Tide.’
  ‘A lifelong fan - he queued in a sleeping bag to see Leeds in the 1965 Cup Final - Ridsdale could sense one of those tides which, taken at the flood, lead on to fortune.’
  inflow, inrush, flood, inundation
  View synonyms
3. 1.3literary A river, stream, or sea.
2An outpouring of tears or emotion.
‘Rose burst into such a flood of tears and sobs as I had never seen’
- ‘The other was a vision of a grown up man in floods of tears because, just having bought a brand new Pentax camera tax free, he had started to photograph one of the apes, which promptly grabbed the camera and tossed it down the cliff!’
- ‘And when Percy came to the apartment at 10: 00 in the morning to work with me on his computer, I was in floods of tears.’
- ‘But outside, despite the floods of tears by both pupils and parents, they said they refused to give up the fight and that they would be looking at all the options available to them to save the school.’
- ‘My wife was in absolute floods of tears when she saw the plot.’
- ‘Liam and I were in floods of tears because I just didn't know what to do.’
- ‘She had made the trip from Glasgow, where she lives, to her home town of Greenock countless times, but on this occasion the trip had her screaming with shock and bursting into floods of tears.’
- ‘It is 9.30 am and the birthday girl is in floods of tears.’
- ‘The teenager whose courageous three year battle against cancer has featured in the Evening Advertiser was distraught by the incident, and went home in floods of tears.’
- ‘The other great shadow over our lives was the threat of nuclear war, something that for me could easily produce floods of tears whenever a school play demanded weeping.’
- ‘If they don't get their act together in the next couple of weeks it's going to end in floods of tears.’
- ‘I was in floods of tears, screaming and smashing things up.’
- ‘This was so poignant and moving, and superbly executed by Urmana and Furlanetto, plus Mr Pappano and his amazing band, that I was in floods of tears.’
- ‘‘If he just started talking, I would be in floods of tears because it was so wonderful’, Mrs West said.’
- ‘As he left the ground, McBride was in floods of tears.’
- ‘One day I found myself driving home in floods of tears.’
- ‘She stood, in floods of tears, as her rivals swept past.’
- ‘Members of the choir fled practice in floods of tears.’
- ‘When I had finished talking, I realised I was in floods of tears.’
- ‘I remember watching ‘Born Free’ with my mum when I was a nipper and being in absolute floods of tears.’
- ‘When was the last time a book had you in floods of tears?’
outpouring, torrent, rush, stream, gush, surge, cascade, flow
View synonyms
1. 2.1A very large quantity of people or things that appear or need to be dealt with.
  ‘a constant flood of callers’
  ‘Accurate or not, the flood of bad news appears to be reaching some kind of crescendo.’
  ‘Another overlooked source of capital outflow comes from the flood of tourists visiting Hong Kong and other favourite destinations such as Bangkok and Singapore.’
  ‘The first thing that needs to happen to create a flood of referrals into your personal training department is that you need to earn them.’
  ‘This was a new and unfamiliar situation, leading me on to wonder whether I was entitled to a flood of credits from other artists for not appearing on their albums either.’
  ‘He flushed with embarrassment at the flood of fragments of the memories of that time.’
  ‘A flood of books about the man and his battles has appeared and the nostalgia has even given rise to a range of jewellery inspired by the gifts that Hamilton and Nelson gave each other.’
  ‘In fact the BBC main news said next to nothing about such casualties until a flood of complaints from our readers appeared to contribute to a short-lived change in reporting.’
  ‘Fox has now released a DVD version as part of the flood of war-related films that are appearing this May and June.’
  ‘Particularly from the 1960s a flood of studies of all kinds appeared.’
  ‘There doesn't appear to be a major drop-off of talent despite the flood of newcomers.’
  ‘She could see the majestic house appear over the horizon, and a flood of hope soaked her spirit.’
  ‘Spectators may be overwhelmed by the flood of words as well as the clash of absurdity and reality without having a chance to give it a moment's thought.’
  ‘They believe that this report will embarrass the powers-that-be into triggering a flood of funds to tackle the ravages of heroin.’
  ‘In the village, as he meets his sisters and others among whom he grew up, a flood of memories overwhelms him, and he abruptly changes his mind about selling the property.’
  ‘Soon, the flood of refuges overwhelms the establishment, and all of the foreigners flee the war-torn nation.’
  ‘A flood of sweetness overwhelmed her senses, making Shirley dizzy with pleasure.’
  ‘It's easy to get overwhelmed by the flood of problems you encounter when you first go into business.’
  ‘Pretty soon the outflow of dollars became a river, then a flood.’
  ‘This stream became a flood in the mid 1800's when 17,000 people entered Canada through this port during a three year period.’
  ‘Jamie's concerned question caught her off-guard and unleashed a flood of emotions.’
  succession, series, string, chain
  View synonyms
3
short for floodlight
‘The whitewashed walls glowed eerily in the light refracted from the flood lamps through the rain.’
short for floodlight
- ‘His eyes adjusted to the lack of light automatically, and he was able to see details as if they were under the light of a flood lamp.’

verb

1with object Cover or submerge (a place or area) with water.
‘the dam burst, flooding a small town’
- ‘watching her father flood their backyard skating rink’
- ‘During the incident water flooded an area that is beside the huge batteries that power the diesel-electric submarine.’
- ‘Rashid said flooding the area with water was not the only goal of his ministry.’
- ‘Cold water flooded the area, and Mira found herself panicking a little.’
- ‘The hurricane caused a surge of water that flooded large areas of the historic city center.’
- ‘Residents told the mayor and city officers that the problem began four years ago when a water pipe burst and began flooding the area.’
- ‘Water flooded a state park and then rushed back into the black river.’
- ‘What will happen next year when the water will flood Anjanvara's fertile fields?’
- ‘The rain also put normal life out of gear as a number of residential areas were flooded and the main road in the town remained under water.’
- ‘As the tide flooded the surrounding area, the water swamped his boat.’
- ‘Water cooling is not provided internally and therefore the weld area is flooded with cooling water to keep the electrode wheels cool.’
- ‘In contrast, conventional hydropower technologies often rely on the construction of tall dams that flood the area behind them.’
- ‘Blood spilled from out of their wounds and the mesmerizing water regained its former position and flooded the area where Lilac and Daikon rested.’
- ‘More than 80 buildings in the Plovdiv area were flooded.’
- ‘Also the streets in the downtown Monterey area are flooded.’
- ‘Homes along that area were also flooded, so I just wrapped up a story.’
- ‘Many houses in this area were flooded in the 1982 disaster.’
- ‘Cellars of most apartments in the low-lying area were flooded, with cars and two-wheelers submerged in water.’
- ‘This is an open invitation to flooding once the monsoon arrives and if the Tawi does overflow it will be a disaster.’
- ‘The engine room is flooded and will have to be pumped dry, as will a ballast tank in the bow of the vessel.’
- ‘As a result, more than 1,600 properties across the region were flooded, as rivers such as the Ouse and Derwent reached record levels and burst their banks.’
inundate, swamp, deluge, immerse, submerge, drown, engulf
View synonyms
1. 1.1no object Become covered or submerged with water.
  ‘part of the vessel flooded’
  ‘Sarah's eyes flooded with tears’
  ‘Elected officials also had to clear up deliberately blocked toilets as the floors flooded with urine.’
  ‘The holds and engine room flooded, she was abandoned and later caught fire, at some stage breaking in two.’
  ‘As she fired, two bombs struck her, one causing the engine room to flood, and the second crashed into the galley setting it ablaze.’
  ‘The vessel's engine room began to flood at around 7.30 in the morning but the pumps could not keep pace with the incoming water.’
  ‘I think the flood problems in Jakarta are almost impossible to solve, because the city floods every year, without fail.’
  ‘The tears began filling and flooding her eyes with salt water.’
  ‘Some roadways were flooding, and detours were set up.’
2. 1.2usually be flooded outDrive someone out of their home or business with a flood.
  ‘most of the families who have been flooded out will receive compensation’
  ‘A few days after Conrad left, Louis and his people were flooded out by a storm, their tents and baggage and even some people washed away by a flooding stream.’
  ‘Householders in the Cameron Grove, Butcher Terrace and Terry Street area were flooded out in the November disaster.’
  ‘Anyone who has been flooded out of their home is anxious to get back to ordinary life as soon as possible.’
  ‘Small animals like rats and snakes that have been flooded out of their homes may seek shelter in yours.’
3. 1.3(of a river or sea) become swollen and overflow (its banks)
  ‘the river flooded its banks’
  ‘the river will flood if it gets much worse’
  ‘In Pennsylvania heavy rains caused rivers and streams to flood their banks.’
  ‘Water poured down from the mountain, feeding the gasping river, which promptly flooded its banks.’
  ‘Many Poles recalled the devastating floods of 1997 when torrential rain then caused the river Oder to flood its banks.’
  ‘Divers and search and rescue dogs are on high alert following warnings of rivers and streams flooding as the snow starts to melt.’
  ‘It sank near Shatnal where the Meghna meets its tributaries and often floods its banks.’
  ‘That wooden bridge, it would lead a pathway across a river that would flood every year at spring and become a frozen corridor of still ice when the cold came around.’
  ‘The River Ivel was severely flooded over the weekend putting homes in Blunham, Sandy and Shefford at risk and the A1 was closed.’
  ‘When the river floods, it moves into the inundated rainforest.’
  overflow, burst its banks, brim over, run over
  View synonyms
4. 1.4Overfill the carburetor of (an engine) with fuel, causing the engine to fail to start.
  ‘Is this an acceleration effect, like flooding the engine with petrol before starting a journey, or is it an unsustainable curve?’
  ‘Do this before hooking up the fuel system to avoid flooding the engine with fuel.’
  ‘He tried to start several more times but eventually he could smell the faint smell of gasoline meaning that he had flooded the engine.’
  ‘The idea is to maintain a full tank, not flood the engine.’
  ‘I throw the car into drive and flood the engine with my right foot.’
  ‘The fed went from deflation, sort of stalling the engine to flooding the engine.’
  ‘Trouble can start if you go too fast as the bow wave you create could flood the engine.’
  ‘The biggest danger when entering the water is to create a bow wave that could flood the engine.’
  ‘An official report shows a plane crash was most likely caused by an engine being flooded with fuel.’
  ‘I thought that I must have flooded something and that all would be well when the engine dried out.’
2no object, with adverbial of direction Arrive in overwhelming amounts or quantities.
‘sunlight flooded in at the windows’
- ‘congratulatory messages flooded in’
- ‘his old fears came flooding back’
- ‘Unprecedented amounts of donations are flooding into the various aid agencies and everyone is more than willing to lend financial support to the relief effort.’
- ‘With vast amounts of money flooding into the country, interest rates quickly began to converge with those in Germany even before the launch of the euro.’
- ‘There was a full moon tonight and a moderate amount of moonlight flooded through the window.’
- ‘However, then it became apparent that the annoying woman had got hold of his private e-mail address when the messages came flooding in.’
- ‘The get-well-soon messages have been flooding in, and the Nottingham Evening Post set up a tribute board on its online format.’
- ‘His key function, however, is to maintain a mood and to keep the messages flooding in.’
- ‘More than 3,000 fax messages flooded into the studio in one day, and kept coming well into the early morning hours.’
- ‘Meanwhile the messages of disbelief are flooding in.’
- ‘Unsolicited electronic messages flood into everybody's in-boxes every day.’
- ‘He sat on the bed feeling his body slowly flooding with fear.’
- ‘I heard her screams and then all her pain and fear came flooding in to me.’
- ‘Fear flooded through her and she tried running faster.’
- ‘But then she felt something change, and fear flooded through her system.’
- ‘Just one small word, and the familiar fears flood back in.’
- ‘No sooner than he had said this, he felt a sudden surge of energy flood through him.’
- ‘He paused for a moment, his memories now flooding back into his mind.’
- ‘He spoke in hushed tones, and his eyes flooded with worry.’
- ‘He might have noticed the way my cheeks flooded with scarlet, or how I seemed to be more reclusive than ever, but he didn't comment on it.’
- ‘She came in from the kitchen and my body flooded with relief.’
- ‘Several of them inquire if they might purchase the program and thoughts of a yacht and early retirement flood through the owner's head.’
pour, stream, surge, swarm, pile, crowd, throng
View synonyms
1. 2.1with object Completely fill or suffuse.
  ‘she flooded the room with light’
2. 2.2with object Overwhelm or swamp with large amounts or quantities.
  ‘our switchboard was flooded with calls’
  ‘Investors are worried that if the issuer were to choose the share option, the market could be flooded with shares, making it difficult to convert them to cash.’
  ‘With the prices of handsets getting slashed week after week, the market is flooded with a wide range of latest models to choose from, depending on one's personal need.’
  ‘In a country with such a long tradition of corruption, one need not be a fortune-teller to predict that soon the black market will be flooded with such language diplomas.’
  ‘Or what about if the market is suddenly flooded with cheap lighters - the price then drops to an all time low of 6 for £1.’
  ‘But when they reopened, the market was flooded with farmers trying to sell their animals as quickly as possible to avoid disease.’
  ‘The new car market is flooded with foreign budget brands, with more models scheduled for release in the UK this year alone than ever before.’
  ‘For when yields rise, the market is flooded with grain, and its price collapses.’
  ‘When it comes to fat-loss supplements, the market has been flooded with gimmick after gimmick.’
  ‘It is more sophisticated than flooding an area with police officers because you have got to be in the right place at the right time.’
  ‘Burns wants the emphasis switched from treating to preventing disease and is encouraging radical plans to flood deprived areas with specialist health workers.’
  ‘The crowds cheered and flooded the basement, only to realize that no staircase led to the next floor.’
  ‘Adults with rattling coughs, fevers and aches flooded their makeshift exam room.’
  ‘The changing rooms have been flooded by the juniors, and now demonstrate sedimentation patterns wonderfully.’
  ‘By the morning, police had flooded the sleepy area.’
  ‘Police have flooded a city area with leaflets appealing for information after four men were shot - and one of them died - in the space of three weeks.’
  ‘In the latest phase on the crackdown of pirate goods flooding the area, trading standards officers seized £91,000 worth of fake DVDs.’
  ‘The company floods each country with engineers, who spend months studying consumer habits and potential pitfalls.’
  ‘There were people already gathered and there would be soon even more crowds that would flood the street.’
  ‘Most of the crowd had flooded the exits now, with only a handful of amazed onlookers diving for cover under the dugouts.’
  ‘The depression that followed the conclusion of war wiped out some manufacturers when British goods again flooded the market.’
  glut, swamp, saturate, oversupply, overfill, overload, overwhelm
  View synonyms

Phrases

be in flood

1(of a river) be swollen and overflowing its banks.
‘The agency's regional flood defence committee backed the scheme to provide a dedicated outfall from the Riccall Ings washlands which can hold nearly two billion gallons of water when the river is in flood.’
- ‘In the 12 th century Queen Matilda came riding from London to Barking Forest for a spot of hunting only to get a soaking because the river was in flood, and so she ordered a bridge to be built instead.’
- ‘The search was launched but it became immediately apparent that conditions were very dangerous as the river was in flood and the water visibility was down to just six inches.’
- ‘The Environment Agency has agreed to remove material from the Skell after members of the public raised concerns over the quantity brought down when it and the River Laver were in flood.’
- ‘The reason for this was that these were only licences to capture water when the river was in flood, so naturally licence holders would need to spend quite a bit of money on a dam to hold their water.’
- ‘Following a site meeting on Wednesday, officers asked for electronic modelling work to predict how the wheel may affect the flow of the river when it is in flood and the park is under water.’
- ‘These have been days of rain, and now the river in flood carries its familiar load of dissolved earth, plastic trash, whole trees.’
- ‘The giant pumps are part of a multi-million pound flood relief scheme which is designed to divert the River Tutt out of Boroughbridge when the River Ure is in flood.’
- ‘Both dogs went to the river, which was in flood at the time.’
- ‘The decision to call off the event was made in the interest of safety as the river Mahon was in flood and would have constituted an unacceptable risk.’
- ‘Covering a river coming down in flood, you find yourself in a position to make a decision of possibly historical importance.’
- ‘When he wishes to replace a footbridge, swept away by the river in flood, he gives instructions for it to be built of larch, because it is cheap and quick.’
- ‘After their arguments, tears would burst like rivers in flood and lamentations rose like smoke from the house.’
- ‘The river is in flood at present with water discoloured but this appears to have had no detrimental effect on catches.’
- ‘Getting supplies to the farm depended on the rivers not being in flood.’
- ‘When the river is in flood seepage is occurring at several locations.’
- ‘But the river was in flood and police underwater search teams could not go into the water.’
- ‘The Zambezi River has been in flood for the last three months following heavy rains in Zambia and Angola.’
- ‘Sadly, because it is such an unusual occurrence, people take their lives into their hands by attempting to cross swollen rivers, which, when they are in flood, results in loss of life and property.’
- ‘The river begins expanding in early March and continues in flood until late June.’
1. 1.1be in full floodBe progressing or talking vigorously or enthusiastically.
  ‘discussion was already in full flood and refused to be dammed’
  ‘He was in full flood when the chairman of the committee stopped him with the words, "You are not a member of this committee, John. You are not entitled to speak!"’
  ‘At which point certain members of the audience could restrain themselves no longer and began to heckle and then question these assertions whilst he was in full flood.’