How to use engulf in a sentence

29 example sentences · verb

Engulf means to overwhelm. Example: “Depression engulfed her after her daughter's death.”

Examples of engulf by meaning

verbTo overwhelm.

Depression engulfed her after her daughter's death.
Shaken by the biggest challenge to their authority in years, Brazil’s leaders made conciliatory gestures on Tuesday to try to defuse the protests engulfing the nation’s cities.2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Jun 2013
The blank spaces of Mallarmé, the silence of Maesterlinck, the inaniloquous repetitive babblings of Gertrude Stein are the abyss which threatens to engulf creative effort if it continues in this direction.1934, The Modern Monthly, volume 8, page 308

verbTo surround; to cover; to submerge.

Only Noah and his family survived when the Flood engulfed the world.

More sentences with engulf

Then a torrent of rushing bloodwater engulfed the city's humanity, whisking them to their doom.2007, Howard Hopkins, “Death Reign of the Zombie Queen”, in The Spider Chronicles, Calumet City, I.L.: Moonstone Books, →ISBN, page 78. From the entry bloodwater
He became oblivious to his surroundings as his recollections engulfed his attention.2006, Mignon C. Reynolds, “To Believe and to See”, in Life as Bonkers: A Canine Adventure of Discovery, Friendship, Interplanetary…. From the entry rememberize
The icy surface is going to break and you're totally engulfed in the tumult.1990 December 9, Walta Borawski, quoting Allen Barnett, “'Unfortunately, Life Has Followed Art...'”, in Gay Community News, volume 18…. From the entry tumult
When the mighty duststorm, silent and terrifying, first engulfed her, she thought she would choke.1974, James A[lbert] Michener, “Drylands”, in Centennial, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN; Dial Press trade paperback edition, New…. From the entry spit
"And this shadow of Bou Smain may yet engulf you if I am not quick.1929, Camilla Hope, Long Shadows, page 253. From the entry old sins have long shadows
The turmoil has engulfed more and more of the right.2025 November 20, J. Oliver Conroy, “White nationalist Nick Fuentes is exposing a civil war among US Republicans: ‘We look like clowns’”…. From the entry ISI
The game was engulfed in controversy when Rodwell appeared to win the ball cleanly in a midfield challenge with Suarez.2011 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0-2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2012. From the entry writhe
Engulfed by the sound of uncrinkling candy wrappers: Off.2008 May 4, Charles Isherwood, “When Off Meets Off Off, Creative Ferment Is On”, in New York Times. From the entry uncrinkle
Seis also feed by engulfing small schooling fish.2005, Wayne Ledwell, Whales and Dolphins of Newfoundland and Labrador. From the entry sei
Black adults, including Afristocrats like Cosby, have been engulfed in moral panic over baggy pants that sag almost beneath the behind.2005, Michael Eric Dysonn, Is Bill Cosby right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind, page 116. From the entry Afristocrat
The little boy was I, was me, and I was engulfed by the noise and enthralled by the train's power.2002, Ian [Victor] Hansen, “The First Problem”, in The Naked Fish: An Autobiography of Belief, Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield…. From the entry wigwag
Foc’sle-head and forward deck lay engulfed to the fore-hatch.1920 October, Carl Clausen, “Some Pearls and a Swine”, in Romance, volume 2, number 6, serial number 12, New York, N.Y.: The Ridgway…. From the entry crowsnest
Wasting no time, Crossfire aims her hyperbeam cannon and fires her spatial blast which engulfs Charlemagne and punches a hole in the ground.2018, Xavier J. Fulwood, Knighthood: The Dangerous Adventures, Page Publishing, Incorporated, →ISBN. From the entry hyperbeam
Top with a little fig and close the plastic wrap in such a way that the kuzumochi engulfs the fig (in a sac).2018, Albert Raurich, Dos palillos: A Culinary Conversation with Japan and Asia, RBA Libros, →ISBN, page 383. From the entry kuzumochi
It bounced twice on the waves, each time managing to free itself from the engulfing spray with vigorous thrashes of its one good wing.2016, Clark Nida, The Titan Kiss. From the entry thrash
Consistently, electron microscopy analysis of the PA treated cells showed many autophagic vacuoles with engulfed mitochondria, confirming mitophagosome formation (Fig 1B ).2015 July 11, “PINK1-Parkin-Mediated Mitophagy Protects Mitochondrial Integrity and Prevents Metabolic Stress-Induced Endothelial Injury”…. From the entry mitophagosome
Deflategate – the biggest scandal involving underpressurised balls ever to engulf American football – parped its way ever more painfully towards a denouement last week.2015 September 8, Graham Snowdon, “Iceland in meltdown after reaching Euro 2016”, in The Guardian. From the entry underpressurised
It engulfed screaming soldiers who disappeared before his eyes, their flesh, armor, even bone, flensed into a suspended mist that was heading straight for them.2008, Ian C. Esselemont, Return of the Crimson Guard, →ISBN, page 569. From the entry flense
It wasn't until the third or fourth or fifth drops that I became aware of this rain that was to engulf my life.1948, Barré Lyndon, Jonathan Latimer (screenplay), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (motion picture), spoken by John Triton (Edward G. Robinson). From the entry one-night stand
A tide of Republican scandal foamed up last week and engulfed Germany's greatest post-War soldier, Hans von Seeckt, “The Man with the Iron Monocle.”1926 October 18, “Portent Hatched”, in Time. From the entry foam up
Among the most captivating scenes from the initial Los Angeles protests were the scorched Waymo cars, lined up in a row and engulfed in heavy black smoke.2025 June 13, Rachel Swan, “If Waymos are ignited during Saturday’s No Kings protest, S.F. officials could let them burn”, in San…. From the entry hapless
Though almost engulfed by Bedford, Elstow's claim to villagedom is still maintained by two fine rows of timber-framed, overhung, black-and-white cottages and the timber and herringbone-brick Swan pub.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 174. From the entry overhung
Magda B., engulfed in non-activity, non-being, nothingness, situationlessness, was not, I think, frustrated or tormented like Rose R.; she was becalmed, asleep, on the ocean of life.1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings. From the entry situationlessness
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 10 (AP) — Twenty‐five persons were buried yesterday by a landslide that engulfed a sulphur mine at Wanli, near here, the police reported today.1964 October 11, “25 Trapped in Taiwan Mine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Jul 2023, page 76. From the entry Wanli
For more than a dozen of them, their Korean dream came to a horrifying end on Monday, when a toxic inferno engulfed a lithium-battery factory where they had found work.2024 June 25, Choe Sang-Hun, “Deadly Fire Exposes Harsh Conditions Migrant Workers Face in South Korea”, in The New York Times, →ISSN…. From the entry Hwaseong

Meaning of engulf

verb To overwhelm.
verb To surround; to cover; to submerge.
verb To cast into a gulf.

Full definition of engulf

Questions about engulf in a sentence

How do you use engulf in a sentence?: Engulf is used as a verb. For example: “Depression engulfed her after her daughter's death.”
What is a short sentence with engulf?: “Depression engulfed her after her daughter's death.”
What does engulf mean?: Engulf means to overwhelm.

Adapted from Wiktionary: engulf (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use engulf in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/engulf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.