drown

Meaning

1. To die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid.
2. To kill by suffocating in water or another liquid.
3. To be flooded: to be inundated with or submerged in (literally) water or (figuratively) other things; to be overwhelmed.
4. To inundate, submerge, overwhelm.
5. To obscure, particularly amid an overwhelming volume of other items.

Synonyms

sink

submerge

overwhelm

drowned

suffocate

strangle

choke

flood

soak

inundate

swim

🏊

dip

be drowned

deluge

throttle

smother

immerse

shower

🚿

dive

overflow

perish

plunge

set

stifle

strangulate

get drowned

wash away

become red

be destroyed

drown out

get addicted

become infatuated

die by drowning

over power

absorb

drownd

basin irrigation

bathe

block

choked

consume

dampen

deafen

drench

drowning

flow

flush irrigation

forget

founder

get rid of

immersed

inundation

kill

🔪🩸👤

lavish

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɹaʊn/

Etymology

From Middle English drownen, drounen, drunen (“to drown”), of obscure and uncertain origin.
The OED suggests an unattested Old English form *drūnian. 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”)). Funk & Wagnall's has 'of uncertain origin'. It has been theorised (see e.g. ODS) 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", unless one considers the possibility of an unattested variant in Old Norse *drunkna.