flooding

(agriculture) Filling of ditches or covering of land with water during the raising of crops; rice, for example, must have occasional flooding to grow properly.
(chemical engineering) Condition in a liquid-vapor counterflow device (such as a distillation column) in which the rate of vapor rise is such as to prevent liquid downflow, causing a buildup of the liquid (flooding) within the device.
(petroleum engineering) Technique of increasing recovery of oil (secondary recovery) from a reservoir by injection of water into the formation to drive the oil toward producing wellholes. Also known as waterflooding.
(psychology) A behavior therapy for phobias and other problems involving maladaptive anxiety, in which anxiety producers are presented in intense form (real or imagined) and continued until the stimuli no longer produce disabling anxiety.

1. The stratification of different-colored pigments in a paint film.
2. Introducing water, by gravity, into the backfill surrounding a pipe in order to compact the backfill.
3. A temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas resulting from (a) the overflow of inland or tidal waters, or (b) the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source.

A method of coping with stress by exposing the subject to anxiety-provoking stimuli in the absence of the unpleasant experiences or feelings usually associated with those stimuli, in the hope that the anxiety will be extinguished by extinction.

A form of desensitization used in behavior therapy in which the patient imagines or is actually exposed to anxiety-producing stimuli.