whelm
To emotionally affect at an intensity in between underwhelm and overwhelmTo emotionally affect at an intensity in between underwhelm and overwhelm; to just satisfy or just meet expectations.
» What a gracious speech, what a daring pledge to a world whelmed in tyranny and wrong!
Meaning
5 senses(colloquial, transitive)To emotionally affect at an intensity in between underwhelm and overwhelm; to just satisfy or just meet expectations.
(archaic, transitive)To bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.
(obsolete, transitive)To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.
(obsolete, transitive)To ruin or destroy.
(archaic, intransitive)To overcome with emotion; to overwhelm.
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
Examples
1 sentencesWhat a gracious speech, what a daring pledge to a world whelmed in tyranny and wrong!
Translations
3 languagesOrigin
From Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhapFrom Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (“arched, concave, vaulted; an arched or vaulted ceiling”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwalb, from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (“arch, vault”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve”).
Back-formation from overwhelm /underwhelm, as if a base verb "whelm" described a middling intensity between under- and overwhelming.
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Forms
whelms, whelming, whelmed, whelmedSynonyms
6 synonyms- overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli:overwhelmoverpowersweep overovercomeovertake
Antonyms
1 antonymsWord family
5 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle