overwhelming

adjective

over·​whelm·​ing ˌō-vər-ˈ(h)wel-miŋ 

: tending or serving to overwhelm

overwhelming force

overwhelming evidence

also : extreme, great

overwhelming indifference

an overwhelming majority

Examples of overwhelming in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Such a move would have a negative effect on the EV transition in which Tesla has been the overwhelming leader, and Musk has been the biggest booster. —Brad Templeton, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025

Accordingly, America's overwhelming imperative is to devote our limited resources—at least those deployed outside our own hemisphere—to containing and repelling China. —Newsweek, 21 Feb. 2025

The overwhelming majority of those case are represented by lawyer Tony Buzbee. —Dominic Patten, Deadline, 21 Feb. 2025

This pay-to-win offer has interfered with the process of natural selection—in which popular posts would multiply through reposts, mutate in iterative references, and rise above the overwhelming majority of posts that got no interest at all—that used to be the platform’s defining quality. —Dan Brooks, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

overwhelming

adjective

over·​whelm·​ing ˌō-vər-ˈhwel-miŋ 

-wel-

: great sense 4, extreme

an overwhelming response

overwhelmingly adverb