overwhelmingly

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/ˌəʊ.vəˈwɛl.mɪŋ.lɪ/

adverb

In an overwhelming manner; very greatly or intensely.

Less commonScrabble 29

Meanings

adverboverwhelmingly (comparative more overwhelmingly, superlative most overwhelmingly)

comparative more overwhelmingly · superlative most overwhelmingly

  1. In an overwhelming manner; very greatly or intensely.

    [F]rom the perspective of traditional linguistic landscapes thought, such an overwhelmingly English landscape would normally be considered to exert a negative effect on the vitality and feelings of worth of other languages within this specific multilingual milieu.

    2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 5
    2 more examples

    Gratifying as it is to read such editorials even in the press which supports Mr. Marples' party—and to learn that the G.N. Line's London suburban electrification is at last being given a cost-benefit analysis of the kind which overwhelmingly justified the L.T. Victoria Line [...] but years later than need have been—[...].

    1963 June, “Second thoughts on Beeching”, in Modern Railways, page 361

    The Conan O’Brien-penned half-hour has the capacity to rip our collective hearts out the way the cute, funny bad girl next door does to Bart when she reveals that her new boyfriend is Jimbo Jones, but the show keeps shying away from genuine emotion in favor of jokes that, while overwhelmingly funny, detract from the poignancy and the emotional intimacy of the episode.

    2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2012
  2. Mostly; predominantly; almost completely.

    Studies on homeless income find that the typical “career panhandler” who dedicates his time overwhelmingly to begging can make between $600 and $1,500 a month.

    2012, Arthur Gillard, Homelessness, page 38
    2 more examples

    Those recurrent noises in Italy about a move to Internazionale have resurfaced this week. It seems overwhelmingly likely Conte will stay, pay rise pending. But it is a feat of rare political skill to have made himself so unusually vital to the current success.

    2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian

    They found that the quantitative judgments overwhelmingly supported the judgments in the syntax textbook (around 99 percent of the time), and strongly so in the Linguistic Inquiry examples (around 90–95 percent) of the time^([sic]).

    2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Preliminaries: Components of Language Structure” (chapter 2), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 49

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbincapable of being resisted

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelp-
  7. Proto-Germanic*kʷolpós
  8. Proto-Germanic*hwalbazder.?
  9. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelp-
  10. Proto-Germanic*kʷólpo-
  11. Proto-Germanic*hwalbąder.?
  12. Old Englishhwealf
  13. Old English*hwealfnian
  14. Old English*hwealmnian?
  15. Middle Englishwhelmen
  16. Middle Englishoverwhelmen
  17. Englishoverwhelm
  18. Englishoverwhelming
  19. Englishoverwhelmingly

From overwhelming + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

overwhelmingly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overwhelmingly

MLA

“overwhelmingly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overwhelmingly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overwhelmingly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overwhelmingly.

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