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drpaladin

drpaladin 85,670

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Deluge can also mean a heavy rain or covered up with something, as in deluged with work.

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Bill W

Bill W 52,130

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Deluge come from from the Latin word diluere (wash away), to diluvium (flood), to the Old French diluve.  It came to late Middle English as deluge, which means "an overwhelming amount of water". 

Deluge joined the English language in the 1300s (1325-1375) to describe a flood of water, specifically the great flood in the Book of Genesis in the Bible which Noah escaped by building his ark.  

What is the difference between a flood and a deluge?  A deluge is the extreme form of a flood -- a very severe flood. The flood in Genesis (Noah's Arc) was a deluge. The term "deluge" also sounds like a higher speech register -- you could just say "huge flood."  There are three common flood types: fluvial floods, also known as river floods; pluvial or flash floods; and coastal floods, which are often called storm surge.
 
Definitions of downpour, a heavy rain, synonyms: cloudburst, deluge, pelter, soaker, torrent, waterspout.  

Example of deluge in a sentence: 
The hurricane deluged the island with rain.
A deluge of rain hit the plains,  
A deluge of rain put a stop to the tennis match.  
The rain swelled to a great deluge.  
The cyclists got soaked to the skin in the deluge.  
The administration received a deluge of complaints.  
The world appeared to be emerging still from the waters of the Deluge.  
They are expecting a deluge of calls after the launch of the offer.  
A heavy deluge of water swept through the village.  
This may be the worst deluge in living memory.  
He hired an assistant to filter through the daily deluge of email that he receives. 

 

Edited by Bill W
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