submerger

to submerge, to overwhelm

verb süb-mair-ZHEH Rare

Usage Note

Submerger means both to physically flood or submerge and figuratively to overwhelm, as in être submergé de travail (to be swamped with work). The figurative sense is very common in everyday French. It follows the regular -ger conjugation pattern: je submerge, nous submergeons.

Examples

"Il se sent submergé par ses responsabilités."

Natural Translation

He feels overwhelmed by his responsibilities.

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