downflood

D2O1W4N1F4L1O1O1D2
US/ˈdaʊn.flʌd/

verb

To enter a boat, ship, or other vessel through openings that are normally above the waterline.

Scrabble 17
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbdownflood (third-person singular simple present downfloods, present participle downflooding, simple past and past participle downflooded)

present singular third person downfloods · participle present downflooding · participle past downflooded · past downflooded

  1. nauticalTo enter a boat, ship, or other vessel through openings that are normally above the waterline.

    Once seawater flowed down (downflooded) to the fourth deck through the ventilation trunks and their unsecured (open) closures, the vessel would have sunk deeper because of the weight of the added water and rolled more easily as it lost its residual righting arm.

    2017 December 12, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.4.2 Flooding”, in Marine Accident Report: Sinking of US Cargo Vessel SS El Faro, Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island, Bahamas, October 1, 2015, archived from the original on 15 May 2022, page 194

Origin

Blend of down + flood.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

downflood. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/downflood

MLA

“downflood.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/downflood. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “downflood,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/downflood.

Source: downflood on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.