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What is "overwhelming"

Crossword clues for overwhelming

overwhelming
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
overwhelming
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an irresistible/uncontrollable/overwhelming urge (=very strong)
▪ I was overcome by an irresistible urge to laugh.
an overwhelming majority (=a large majority)
▪ The resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority.
impossible/overwhelming odds (=making success seem extremely unlikely)
▪ They face impossible odds simply trying to get an education.
▪ They face overwhelming odds in their struggle to preserve the park.
overwhelming joyformal (= very great joy)
▪ She experienced a feeling of overwhelming joy.
overwhelming
▪ He felt an overwhelming temptation to kiss her.
overwhelming (=a very strong emotion that you feel suddenly)
▪ She was filled with an overwhelming emotion of relief.
overwhelming (=when there is so much evidence that you are sure that something is true)
▪ The evidence against him was overwhelming.
overwhelming (=so strong that it takes control of you )
▪ He felt an overwhelming desire for a cigarette.
the overwhelming/overriding impression (=an impression that is stronger than all others)
▪ The overwhelming impression after the meeting was one of optimism.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
almost
▪ He looked tired, a little subdued, and suddenly she was stunned by an almost overwhelming shock of tenderness.
▪ Swollen egos battled meaninglessly with a security system which did its level best, but the organisational problems were almost overwhelming.
▪ Her job, which was already fraught with tension, had now also become one of almost overwhelming stress and strain.
▪ I assemble my Trangia and cook food, avoiding the almost overwhelming temptation to use the gas cylinder.
▪ Now she hesitated, toying with an almost overwhelming temptation to spit it back in his face.
▪ She had several almost overwhelming desires.
▪ There was a fantastic atmosphere of pulling together, an almost overwhelming strength which bowled me over.
▪ There was certainly a specifically doctrinal attraction, which, for a time, was almost overwhelming.
so
▪ The spectacle that confronted him was so overwhelming that he all but stumbled in alarm before the policeman caught and steadied him.
▪ Paralytic Where the implications of the choice are so overwhelming that the individual can't make a choice at all.
▪ These are so overwhelming that they stop adults going on to do the courses they applied for or enquired about.
■ NOUN
desire
▪ An overwhelming desire to injure the plaintiff rather than to inform the public would have to be proved.
▪ Her fingers positively itched with the overwhelming desire to see his arrogant face transformed by a slap.
▪ She had several almost overwhelming desires.
▪ Amiss had an almost overwhelming desire to cadge a cigarette in order to demonstrate solidarity, but he repressed it.
▪ And finally, the great patron, the boss of the bunch, must have an overwhelming desire to win.
▪ She felt an overwhelming desire to giggle.
▪ With it came an overwhelming desire to press herself closer.
evidence
▪ On the other hand, there is overwhelming evidence of success.
▪ It also claimed that there was overwhelming evidence of intimidation and coercion.
feeling
▪ An overwhelming feeling of inadequacy flushed through me again.
▪ Personally I had nothing but an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for whoever had made the attempt impossible.
impression
▪ One chapter is devoted to the overwhelming impression made by Venice.
▪ My overwhelming impression now is one of revived optimism.
▪ The overwhelming impression in the survey of newly-established firms was also that they had originated in adjacent areas of London.
▪ The overwhelming impression of Soul is of a science in retreat, forced to admit the inadequacy of its materialism.
▪ The overwhelming impression of the participants is that they are investigating the way things are.
majority
▪ As modernization proceeded, the overwhelming majority of graduates became healthily integrated within existing society.
▪ A resolution to maintain the truce was carried by an overwhelming majority.
▪ The overwhelming majority of these will be just existing ways of doing things.
▪ And an overwhelming majority thought the photos would not further calls for tougher press controls.
▪ No, says the overwhelming majority.
▪ The overwhelming majority of peasant communications were oral in nature in a society that was still largely illiterate.
▪ The overwhelming majority of the world's people have lived until recently without the need to be members of national groups.
▪ The centre receives the overwhelming majority of all these referrals in the city.
need
▪ Both resorted to drink and felt an overwhelming need for Norman.
▪ Moaning softly, she swayed towards him, surrendering to an overwhelming need.
▪ As David's nose nuzzled the back of her neck, Clare had an overwhelming need to be even closer to him.
▪ In old age, however, the likelihood is that the overwhelming need will be for confirmation and acceptance of their situation.
▪ Stricken by a sudden overwhelming need, her fingers flew in search of his shirt buttons.
sense
▪ Perhaps the person experiences an overwhelming sense of injustice which renders them less capable of dealing with the problem a second time.
▪ Above all, I remember the overwhelming sense of defeatism and moral chaos that pervaded public discourse.
▪ They brought tears to her eyes, but tears of pain soon welled up from an overwhelming sense of despair.
▪ In his corner Joseph found himself grappling with an overwhelming sense of bewilderment.
▪ Cleo felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity.
▪ A wry and comical early cynicism rapidly transforms into an overwhelming sense of sourness.
▪ The student described an overwhelming sense of poverty and decay.
▪ Despite himself, he felt an overwhelming sense of aversion towards the young man who stood before him.
support
▪ Mr Smith had the overwhelming support of his senior colleagues and the main trades union leaders.
▪ It was a credit to everybody and the people of Merseyside who put the finishing touches to everything with their overwhelming support.
▪ The most overwhelming support came for the Revenue's work in deterring and seeking out tax dodgers.
urge
▪ First, an overwhelming urge to find a market researcher and kick him or her hard on a soft target area.
▪ I can cheerfully admit that it made no impact on me apart from an overwhelming urge to be violently sick.
▪ Their high-kitsch varnish was offset by an overwhelming urge to educate.
victory
▪ The Tories' overwhelming victory in 1987 appeared to set the seal upon the triumph of bourgeois capitalism.
▪ D'Alembord also prayed for a swift and overwhelming victory for himself.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ an overwhelming experience
▪ She had an overwhelming urge to call Mel again in New York.
▪ The evidence against them is overwhelming.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A resolution to maintain the truce was carried by an overwhelming majority.
▪ Christina Rossetti wanted to convey a particular feeling of overwhelming joy.
▪ Lindsey found herself battling against an almost overwhelming and totally illogical desire to run her fingers through its neatness.
▪ She had an overwhelming fear of syphilis, and the pattern of her tippling was similar to that with other addictive substances.
▪ She had several almost overwhelming desires.
▪ The odds against them were overwhelming.
▪ This was the most overwhelming experience I had ever had and I wanted to understand it.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Overwhelming

Overwhelming \O`ver*whelm"ing\, a. Overpowering; irresistible. -- O`ver*whelm"ing*ly, adv.

Overwhelming

Overwhelm \O`ver*whelm"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Overwhelmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Overwhelming.]

  1. To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to ingulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly.

    The sea overwhelmed their enemies.
    --Ps. lxxviii. 53.

    Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
    --Ps. lv. 5.

    Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them.
    --Shak.

    Gaza yet stands; but all her sons are fallen, All in a moment overwhelmed and fallen.
    --Milton.

  2. To project or impend over threateningly.

    His louering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight.
    --Shak.

  3. To cause to surround, to cover.
    --Papin.

Wiktionary
overwhelming

  1. 1 overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong. 2 Very great or intense. 3 extreme. v

  2. (present participle of overwhelm English)

WordNet
overwhelming

  1. adj. so strong as to be irresistible; "an overpowering need for solitude"; "the temptation to despair may become overwhelming"; "an overwhelming majority" [syn: overpowering]

  2. very intense; "politics is his consuming passion"; "overwhelming joy" [syn: consuming]

Usage examples of "overwhelming".

The sensation was so overwhelming that she barely noticed that Ambrose had changed positions and was now looming over her.

They deploy air assets in waves of overwhelming numbers--you know how they are, they always have to have numerical superiority.

Time and attrition would destroy them as surely as an attack by overwhelming odds.

The overwhelming impression given by the newest changes, between the fresh green glow of her eyes and the amoebic tattoos in constant motion beneath the exposed skin of her arms and legs, was shallow exoticism for its own sake.

To one accustomed to small groups and simplicity, such an extravaganza must be overwhelming.

German was the language of her memories, those that had come back like a metastasis, overwhelming her.

Which fact has made exactly no difference to the overwhelming outrush of modern masterpieces, four a shilling in the third tray from the left.

Assuming he and Kama returned to the twenty-first century, would they lose their memories of Overbridge, or have to live with an overwhelming sense of loss?

Timmy could smell pastrami, vinegar and onion despite the overwhelming smell of cleaning solution in the room.

Although eight was not a particularly overwhelming number, all eight openings were covered with huge sheets of clear polyurethane due to the construction, the translucent curtains apparently intended to keep dust off the tombs inside the alcoves.

We see that there is overwhelming evidence for the existence of precognition but, more important, we learn that there are more successful and less successful ways to do experiments.

We find it impossible to conceive of the overwhelming importance of elderly people in preliterate societies as repositories of information and experience.

The responsibilities were overwhelming despite his thorough prenticeship, and his workload was staggering.

Tunisia by then and the French are so underequipped, we shall have an overwhelming British preponderance in this theatre.

By that time there were other no less interesting casualties to observe, and by that time Prew had lost that first overwhelming disgust.