to engulf

Examples

• All

• She was so engrossed in her book that the world around her seemed to engulf her completely.

• 13 days till Christmas and the holiday spirit is engulfing LA.

  Dear God (1996)

• Allow the warmth of your living spirit to engulf us.

  Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

• I feel like hands will reach down from the sky and engulf me in divine warmth.

  Fiction book (1993)

• Once I get stuck into it, I am engulfed for a week!

  The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

• Our conquerors feel a rising anger that may engulf us all.

  Dragon Seed (1944)

• The war that began in Vietnam has now engulfed Cambodia.

  First They Killed My Father (2017)

• A crisis of governability has engulfed the world's most advanced democracies.

  Academic text (2012)

• Syria the country shattered, its people engulfed in conflict, its neighbors bearing a brutal burden.

• The day after arriving in New York, Orlando Farias had been engulfed by damp and grimy heat.

  Fiction book (1997)

Synonyms

S

to swallow

vsto engulf

143 4.8

To completely cover or hide something so it disappears

focuses on causing disappearance rather than involving a person fully

E

to engage

vsto engulf

117 3.5

To keep someone's full attention

is stronger, suggesting total absorption or complete devotion

A

to absorb

vsto engulf

112 3.1

To give all your attention to something

also means to take in or involve completely, not only attention

I

to immerse

vsto engulf

59 4.8

Make someone fully involved in an activity or interest

is similar but also applies when someone is absorbed by a situation

I

to immerse in

vsto engulf

28 4.2

To become fully involved in an activity or subject

applies broadly to complete involvement beyond specific environments

S

to steep

vsto engulf

27 5.8

To give yourself fully to a subject or activity

covers complete involvement generally, not only self-directed devotion

E

to engross

vsto engulf

17 5.8

To hold someone's full attention

is more general about fully involving someone rather than focusing only on attention

S

to soak up

vsto engulf

• Informal

16 3.9

To take in and enjoy the atmosphere or information

applies more widely to involvement beyond passive taking in

Antonyms

I

to ignore

∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

N

to neglect

256 3.8

Fail to care for someone or something you should look after

How Involving

to overwhelm

164 4.4

to engulf

23 5.7

to absorb

112 3.1

to involve

∞ 1.8

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology