What's the difference between overwhelm and stupefy?

Overwhelm


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to ingulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly.
  • (v. t.) To project or impend over threateningly.
  • (v. t.) To cause to surround, to cover.
  • (n.) The act of overwhelming.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The following conclusions emerge: (i) when the 3' or the 3' penultimate base of the oligonucleotide mismatched an allele, no amplification product could be detected; (ii) when the mismatches were 3 and 4 bases from the 3' end of the primer, differential amplification was still observed, but only at certain concentrations of magnesium chloride; (iii) the mismatched allele can be detected in the presence of a 40-fold excess of the matched allele; (iv) primers as short as 13 nucleotides were effective; and (v) the specificity of the amplification could be overwhelmed by greatly increasing the concentration of target DNA.
  • (2) She added: “We will continue to act upon the overwhelming majority view of our shareholders.” The vote was the second year running Ryanair had suffered a rebellion on pay.
  • (3) T cells admixed in the germinal centers were overwhelmingly of the T-helper type.
  • (4) Unfortunately for the governor, he could win both states and still face the overwhelming likelihood of failure if he doesn't take Ohio, where the poll found Obama out front 51-43.
  • (5) In Britain, the European election is overwhelmingly seen through the prism of domestic politics.
  • (6) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Asked if Watson should seek to refresh his mandate after Corbyn’s overwhelming victory among members, McCluskey added: “Well, if Tom wants to try to refresh his mandate it would be interesting to see what happens.” Watson said it was time “to be proud of our party”, because the Conservatives were beatable and the prime minister, Theresa May, could call an election any time.
  • (7) The government acknowledged it had been overwhelmed by the devastation from the deadliest quake in Nepal in over 80 years.
  • (8) He made me laugh and cry, and his courage in writing about what he was going through was sometimes quite overwhelming.
  • (9) Although alpha 1-antiprotease (alpha 1-AP) binds and inactivates NE and is the major antielastase of the lower respiratory tract, antielastase defenses may be overwhelmed in CF, leading to progressive lung damage.
  • (10) And HAP has shown that the key finding that debt slows growth was driven overwhelmingly by the exclusion of four years of data from New Zealand.
  • (11) Cathepsin D-like acid proteinase existed overwhelmingly in the mucosal layer and was hardly detected in the gastric juice.
  • (12) Hence, reaction of chemical carcinogen with nuclear DNA is possible only when the cell is overwhelmed leading to cell death, or following a temporary breach of the nuclear membrane control points, but the DNA damage in the latter is totally reparable.
  • (13) The facts are clear: the overwhelming majority of EU citizens in Britain are contributors, not freeloaders.” But that was not the official position of any of the parties involved, so it went mostly unsaid.
  • (14) Of 54 patients with poor-grade aneurysms, ventriculostomy was placed in 47 (87.0%) and yielded high ICP's in the overwhelming majority, with the mean ICP being 40.2 cm H2O.
  • (15) There is overwhelming evidence, today, that such factors are involved in the manifestation of acute as well as chronic, non-specific as well as well as specific inflammation.
  • (16) Mobile phone networks, overwhelmed by demand, were down for hours, with authorities advising people to use email or text messages instead.
  • (17) The immunity was enacted by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, with the support of leading Democrats including Barack Obama, who had promised - when seeking his party's nomination - to filibuster any bill that contained retroactive telecom immunity.
  • (18) There’s an overwhelming sadness among kids like that who have been kept there for a very long time.
  • (19) Panic attacks would overwhelm her periodically and she experienced regular “ scanxiety ” – the feelings of dread that grip patients before new tests.
  • (20) In the meantime, Malaysia Airlines’ overwhelming focus will be the same as it has been from the outset – to provide the families with a comprehensive support programme.

Stupefy


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make stupid; to make dull; to blunt the faculty of perception or understanding in; to deprive of sensibility; to make torpid.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of material mobility.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Between 2002 and 2008, Worboys, who was jailed for life in 2009, carried out more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults using alcohol and drugs to stupefy his victims, said Mr Justice Green at London's high court.
  • (2) The US Congress, its approval rating still near all-time lows , is reinforcing its own record of stupefyingly short-sighted lawmaking with what may be the most harmful piece of economic legislation in America in years: the $1tn 2013 farm bill .
  • (3) Like its predecessors (The Tudors, Spartacus, Camelot etc) the 10-part potboiler is awash with wrecking ball exposition, window-rattling anachronisms and scenes in which heritage hardbodies have shouting backwards sex next to stupefied livestock.
  • (4) It was a ridiculous goal, one that had a stupefying effect on this stadium.
  • (5) Yes, we pound along after prickly DS Gibson as she quietly humiliates stupefied subordinates and draws important red circles around photos with her big Met-issued marker pen.
  • (6) It's debased and stupefied, really, but that's daily politics."
  • (7) He was used and made to look ridiculous in front of those he governs.” Why Trump was invited and then treated so softly left pundits stupefied, especially since Peña Nieto, who is not known for verbal jousting or talking without scripts, missed such a good chance to improve his poor approval rating.
  • (8) Late summer saw a surprising population explosion of wasps, with many wandering around apparently stupefied by gorging on too much honeydew (the sugary excretion of aphids).
  • (9) But I think we should regard it as a moment for opportunity.” Johnson had previously called Trump “ill-informed” and said his comments on Islam showed “a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of president of the United States”.
  • (10) Richard Pasquier, head of the Jewish umbrella group the Crif, not usually critical of the government, said he was "shocked" and "stupefied" by Fillon's comments.
  • (11) Because everywhere where they love their football, the memory lingers of that stupefying free-kick in Le Tournoi in France in 1997 when he bent the ball, defying every law of football physics as hitherto understood, around the outside of a defensive wall with the outside of his left foot, from 35 yards, past a mute, helpless and utterly immobile Fabien Barthez.
  • (12) Wodehouse wrote that a Briton could easily stupefy himself with food at Simpson’s, and quite cheaply, too.
  • (13) Our pharmaceutical industries produce a cornucopia of prescription drugs – eye-opening, stupefying, mood-swinging, game-changing, anxiety-alleviating, performance-enhancing – currently at a global market-value of more than $300bn.
  • (14) What followed was extraordinary even before we reached those final, stupefying moments.
  • (15) Drawn by Russia’s finest political cartoonist, Sergey Elkin , it is at once a powerful portrayal of the stupefying influence of Kremlin-controlled TV and an indication of why neither increasingly harsh western sanctions nor international allegations of Russian culpability in the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are likely to damage Vladimir Putin’s soaring popularity at home.
  • (16) Reductive drugs: lowering the intensity of sensations and emotions, in three kinds: a) Releaser drugs, causing removal of inhibitions and production of phantasies; b) Sedation drugs, easing tensions and anxieties; c) Stupefying drugs, blurring all contact with the outer world.
  • (17) There you were, going through life like a stupefied Commie drone, until you got lit up by some smilin’ Wasilla sunshine, and now you can’t get enough.
  • (18) The idea is the mental construct of a powerful lobby, the British navy, its cheerleaders and its suppliers, with their hands on stupefying amounts of public money and an ability to scare politicians into pandering to their interest.
  • (19) Unaccompanied child refugees' suffering on route to Europe laid bare Read more Most of the unaccompanied minors in Catania rarely seem to leave the patch of grass near the station, sitting quietly throughout the stupefying afternoon heat, occasionally washing in the fountain dedicated to the ancient Roman goddess Proserpina.
  • (20) Some news from the sticks: across England and Wales, 41 elections for police commissioners will take place in just over a week, but the buildup to this supposedly watershed moment is stupefyingly quiet.