overwhelmed

adjective

over·​whelmed ˌō-vər-ˈ(h)welmd 

1

: overcome by force or numbers

Some jurisdictions are so overwhelmed that they are experimenting with routing school-children into specially designed courts that would keep first-time offenders from being saddled with an arrest record.

—Gary Fields and John R. Emshwiller

Only three Coast Guard rescue helicopters had managed to get into the air, and each was already overwhelmed by dozens of calls for help.

—Christopher Cooper and Robert Block

"We were overwhelmed," said John Robinson, the Rams' coach. "Clearly dominated."

—Paul Zimmerman

2

: completely overcome or overpowered by thought or feeling

When he first appeared in full regalia, I was overwhelmed.

—Jane Davison

Suddenly he felt overwhelmed by a wash of terror.

—Holly Black

He finds that the institutions that might compensate for what overwhelmed parents are unable to do are themselves undermined by stingy public policies.

—Lisbeth B. Schorr

Examples of overwhelmed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

People usually expect love to be a shelter of sorts in times like these — but when both partners are completely overwhelmed, that shelter can start to cave inwards. —Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025

In any case, Olga is clearly overwhelmed and exasperated by Elio, who’s not identified as autistic (as some have speculated online) or disabled (there’s a good explanation for his blue eyepatch). —Peter Debruge, Variety, 17 June 2025

Starbucks, where Garner was previously CIO, has been swamped with mobile orders, resulting in overwhelmed baristas and impatient customers. —Nina Ajemian, Fortune, 17 June 2025

On the one hand, resistance to literary devices is tragic: the Fact Checker became overwhelmed by the chaos of reality, and maybe some metaphor would have kept the madness at bay. —Isabel Clara Ruehl june 16, Literary Hub, 16 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1