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

The real story was a bit more complicated than that, but the family who owned him was overwhelmed and couldn't keep him any more. —Monica Potts, ABC News, 8 May 2024

Police officers on duty were swiftly overwhelmed and did not quell the situation for about three hours. —Gillian Brassil, Sacramento Bee, 8 May 2024

The few police officers on duty were quickly overwhelmed, and the violence continued for three hours until authorities finally brought the situation under control. —Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2024

Intrigued by the knowledge, Ruby is overwhelmed when the Doctor activates his ship, landing them in the age of the dinosaurs. —Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 6 May 2024

Its silky blue waters and white steam were soothing on the eyes and soul, but I was overwhelmed by the crowds of people at the popular destination. —Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 2 May 2024

Last fall, Pangnirtung launched a pop-up clinic in its community hall when the local health center became overwhelmed with people needing TB tests and treatments. —Melody Schreiber, NPR, 2 May 2024

His team supplied food, water, firewood, and multilingual information sheets as hundreds of migrants, including children, waited days for the overwhelmed Border Patrol to pick them up and process them. —Francine Kiefer, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Apr. 2024

Even those who are overwhelmed by climate change can be frozen into inaction, said Hayhoe. —Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 22 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1