sombrer

to sink, to founder

verb sohm-BREH Rare

Also means

to fall into (chaos, madness)

Usage Note

sombrer is used both literally for ships going down and figuratively — sombrer dans la folie ('to sink into madness'), sombrer dans le chaos. The figurative use is very common in journalism and literature. It is an intransitive verb; you cannot sombrer something.

Examples

"Le navire a sombré pendant la nuit."

Natural Translation

The ship sank during the night.

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