inundate

Imagine a tiny boat suddenly caught in a massive wave. That is what it feels like when too much comes at you all at once. It often means getting far more information, requests, messages, or work than you can easily handle. If your inbox fills with hundreds of emails after you post about a sale, you could say you were inundated with orders.

The word comes from the Latin "inundare," meaning "to flood." Think of a river spilling over its banks. It can be literal, as when a town is inundated by floodwater, or figurative, as when an editor is inundated with submissions. If your aunt sends you endless photos of her cat, she might be inundating you without meaning to.

To inundate means to overwhelm someone with a very large amount of something. It could be information, tasks, requests, emails, questions, or even visitors. The idea is not just that there is a lot, but that so much arrives that it becomes hard to deal with. For example, if a customer service team is inundated with complaints after a product recall, it means the complaints are coming in so fast and in such large numbers that the team is struggling to keep up.

The word first referred to actual flooding, like a river inundating a valley, but today it is often used in a figurative way. You might say, "I'm being inundated with work at the moment," or "The politician was inundated with questions from reporters."

It suggests more than simply having a lot to do. It points to an amount that feels excessive and difficult to manage, with the image of being covered over, almost like being underwater. In literal use, a dam bursting could inundate the land around it with water. In figurative use, nonstop calls, messages, or demands can create the same sense of pressure.

The key idea is that inundate describes a situation where something arrives in such great quantities that it feels hard, or even impossible, to handle comfortably. It is not just busy. It is the feeling of being flooded by more than you can manage at once.