What does awash mean?
"Awash" means covered or nearly submerged by water, especially by waves washing over a surface such as a ship's deck, and it extends figuratively to describe any place or situation overflowing with something in abundance. A street can be awash after heavy rain, and a company can be awash with cash or a newsroom awash with rumours. The word functions almost exclusively as a predicate adjective, typically paired with the complements "with" or "in", and it is common in both British and American English. Its origins are nautical: sailors used it for decks so low in the water that the sea repeatedly swept across them, which gives the modern figurative use its vivid sense of being overwhelmed or saturated. Because the image works equally well for floodwater and for surplus, "awash" is a flexible and expressive choice in journalism, business writing, and everyday speech alike, conveying abundance or excess more colourfully than plainer alternatives like "full" or "flooded".
adjectiveCovered or almost completely submerged by water; figuratively, filled or overflowing with something in great abundance.
- Covered or nearly submerged by water, especially seawater washing over a surface such as a ship's deck.
- Figuratively, filled to overflowing with an abundant supply of something, as in 'awash with cash' or 'awash with rumours'.
"After the storm, the lower streets of the town were awash."
"The waves broke over the bow until the whole deck was awash."
"The startup found itself awash with offers after its product went viral."
Born on sailing ships, where 'awash' described a deck so low in the water that every wave washed clean over it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of awash
"Awash" is formed from the prefix "a-" (meaning "on" or "in") plus "wash", and entered English in the early eighteenth century as a nautical term describing a ship's deck swept or covered by the sea. Its root, "wash", descends from Old English "wacsan" (or "wæscan"), meaning to wash, and shares Germanic ancestry with related words in other Germanic languages. The figurative sense of being abundantly supplied with something developed later, extending the literal image of flooding.
How awash is actually used
Predominantly predicative — 'the streets were awash' rather than 'the awash streets' — and most natural when followed by a complement ('awash with' or 'awash in', the latter more common in American English). The figurative sense carries no inherent positive or negative connotation: one can be awash in wealth or awash in debt.