drown Meaning & Definition
What Does Drown Mean?
Drown is used as a verb meaning To die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid. It is also used to mean To kill by suffocating in water or another liquid.
Quick Facts About Drown
| Part of speech | verb |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /dɹaʊn/ |
| Synonyms | submerge, overwhelm and noyade |
| Verb forms | drowns, drowning, drowned |
Drown Definition (Verb)
- To die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid.
When I was a baby, I nearly drowned in the bathtub.
- To kill by suffocating in water or another liquid.
The car thief fought with an officer and tried to drown a police dog before being shot while escaping.
- To be flooded: to be inundated with or submerged in (literally) water or (figuratively) other things; to be overwhelmed.
We are drowning in information but starving for wisdom.
- To inundate, submerge, overwhelm.
He drowns his sorrows in buckets of chocolate ice cream.
- To obscure, particularly amid an overwhelming volume of other items.
The answers intelligence services seek are often drowned in the flood of information they can now gather.
Verb
- (usually passive) To obscure, particularly amid an overwhelming volume of other items.
The answers intelligence services seek are often drowned in the flood of information they can now gather.
Synonyms of Drown
Drown synonyms and antonyms →Drown in a Sentence
When I was a baby, I nearly drowned in the bathtub.
The car thief fought with an officer and tried to drown a police dog before being shot while escaping.
We are drowning in information but starving for wisdom.
He drowns his sorrows in buckets of chocolate ice cream.
The answers intelligence services seek are often drowned in the flood of information they can now gather.
Word Forms & Grammar
drown (third-person singular simple present drowns, present participle drowning, simple past and past participle drowned)
Words That Rhyme With Drown
Origin of Drown
Origin 1: From Middle English drownen, drounen, drunen (“to drown”), of obscure and uncertain origin.
Origin 2: The OED suggests an unattested Old English form *drūnian.[1] Harper 2001 points to Old English druncnian, ġedruncnian (> Middle English drunknen, dronknen (“to drown”)), "probably influenced" by Old Norse drukkna (cf. Icelandic drukkna, Danish drukne (“to drown”)).[2] Funk & Wagnall's has 'of uncertain origin'. It has been theorised (see e.g. ODS)[3] that it may represent a direct loan of Old Norse drukkna, but this is described by the OED as being "on phonetic and other grounds [...] highly improbable",[1] unless one considers the possibility of an unattested variant in Old Norse *drunkna.
Drown: Your Questions Answered
What part of speech is drown?
Drown is a verb.
What is another word for drown?
You can replace drown with words such as submerge, overwhelm and noyade. See the full list of drown synonyms and antonyms.
What is the past tense of drown?
The past tense of drown is drowned. The present participle is drowning.