engulf

UK/ɪŋˈɡʌlf/US/ɪŋˈɡʌlf/

verbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,901 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: engulfed, engulfing, engulfs

To engulf something is to swallow it up completely. Nothing left showing.

Fire, water and smoke are the usual subjects, and a building engulfed in flames is a standard phrase in news reporting. The word implies speed and totality together. It works on feelings too, and being engulfed by grief or panic means the feeling has taken over entirely. The noun behind it is gulf, meaning a deep chasm or bay, which is where the picture of being swallowed comes from.

Definitions of engulf

1verbengulfTo surround and swallow something up completely.B2+
“Flames engulfed the upper floor within minutes.”

Where it comes from

From en- + gulf.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 10 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

engulf in the wild

The crust of salt can conceal a quagmire of mud that can engulf a truck.
Salt flat
In the photograph, a wave is about to engulf the lighthouse as its keeper, thinking Guichard's was the rescue helicopter, looks out the open door.
Jean Guichard
If placed at the center of the Solar System, the star's surface would engulf Mars, coming close to Jupiter's orbit.
KW Sagittarii
The giant cell will then engulf the other cells in the aggregate and encase the whole aggregate in a thick, cellulose wall to protect it.
Macrocyst
The narrator reflects on the emptiness that can engulf one during nighttime.
At Night (short story)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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