Words / B2

DROWN/draʊn/

To drown is to die in water because you cannot breathe, or to kill that way; also to overwhelm with sound or liquid: drown out; drowned in. Suffocate is broader; flood is water on land (already in the dictionary). Drown in the safety brief is a named risk; still quote the RNLI figure if given. Mix-up: drown vs down; drone; do not write drown for a drama caption with no safety source.

Meaning

To die in water because you cannot breathe, or to kill that way; also to flood with sound or liquid (drown out).

Examples

• “Drown in the safety brief is a named risk; still quote the RNLI figure if given, not a drama caption.”
• “The speech was drowned out by the protest, which is the overwhelm-with-sound sense — still name the motion.”

Good to know

drown in / out; drowned. Close: suffocate. Related: flood. Trap: down / drone. H&S, geography, and news. Die in water, or overwhelm — quote the safety figure, not a film caption.

Near in meaning

suffocate, submerge, overwhelm

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