What does waterlogged mean?
Waterlogged means saturated with water or so full of water as to be impaired. The adjective is most often applied to land or soil that has become waterlogged, and to boats or other vessels that have taken on so much water that they can no longer float or operate normally. In these contexts, the word suggests both excessive wetness and a resulting loss of usefulness, rather than merely a light covering of water. Waterlogged ground is difficult to traverse or build on, while a waterlogged boat is flooded and may be close to sinking. The term is also understandable more broadly for anything saturated or bogged down, although soaked, sodden, and drenched are often more natural for clothing or a person. Waterlogged is a useful, vivid word because it captures not just wetness but the practical consequences of being saturated. Its nautical sense is especially memorable: a vessel becomes waterlogged when it loses the buoyancy needed to stay safely afloat. The word is chiefly an adjective, and its literal meanings are clearer than its occasional figurative extensions.
adjectiveSaturated with water, or filled with so much water that normal use is prevented. It is especially applied to waterlogged ground and to vessels that have taken on water and lost their buoyancy.
- So saturated with water that it is difficult or impossible to use normally, especially land or soil.
- Filled with so much water that it has lost buoyancy or can no longer function, especially a boat or other vessel.
"The heavy rain left the trail waterlogged and nearly impossible to cross."
"Waterlogged fields prevented the tractor from getting through the mud."
"The storm left the fishing boat waterlogged and drifting toward the rocks."
A waterlogged boat has a double problem: it is wet, and it has also lost the lift that once kept it afloat.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does waterlogged come from?
The word is a compound built from water and log. Its best-established development is nautical: a waterlogged vessel is one that has taken on so much water that it has become heavy and has lost its buoyancy. The related form waterlog developed for the process of becoming or making waterlogged, while waterlogging names that process.
Related word forms
How waterlogged is actually used
The word is most natural for ground, soil, boats, and other objects that have taken on excessive water. For a person or clothing, soaked, drenched, or sodden is often more idiomatic, while in nautical contexts waterlogged can sound technical or diagnostic.