deluge means the flood taking place in the story of Noah found in the Bible (Genesis) and Qur'an. It carries an Arena rating of 1689, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, deluge ranks #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,338 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #2,382 of 14,414 for Most Elegant Words.
deluge is pronounced /ˈdɛl.juː(d)ʒ/.
Why “deluge” is a great word
A great flood or overwhelming amount, whether of water, information, or emotion, arriving with sudden and devastating force. From Middle English, from Old French deluge, from Latin diluvium, from diluere (“to wash away”), from dis- (“away”) + luere (“to wash”). Unlike “flood” (a more general, often seasonal overflow) or “trickle” (a meager, sparse seep), a deluge is inherently catastrophic and absolute. It is the levee breaking, the inbox buried in a single morning, the grief that swallows all other feeling—the world rendered as a single, rushing element until nothing else remains, a recognition that drowning can happen in air as surely as in water.
name
- The flood taking place in the story of Noah found in the Bible (Genesis) and Qur'an.
noun
- A great flood or rain.“The deluge continued for hours, drenching the land and slowing traffic to a halt.”
- An overwhelming amount of something; anything that overwhelms or causes great destruction.“The rock concert was a deluge of sound.”
- A system for flooding or drenching a space, container, or area with water in an emergency to prevent or extinguish a fire.“deluge system, deluge gun, deluge set”
verb
- To flood with water.“Some areas were deluged with a month's worth of rain in 24 hours.”
- To overwhelm.“After the announcement, they were deluged with requests for more information.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- spate 86% match — A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation. vs deluge →
- freshet 85% match — A flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw. vs deluge →
- cloudburst 85% match — A sudden heavy rainstorm. vs deluge →
- exundation 85% match — An overflow, flooding or overflowing abundance. vs deluge →
- lavish 84% match — Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal. vs deluge →
- calamity 84% match — An event resulting in great loss. vs deluge →
- ravage 83% match — To devastate, destroy or lay waste to something. vs deluge →
- antediluvian 83% match — Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies. vs deluge →