He stands and moves about the stage accompanied by static thunder and then the sweeter music that gradually overwhelms it.

By late 1969 he has been drawn into a more sinister cult, led by the young mystic Scorpio Murtlock, which gradually overwhelms his life and independence.

As Joy escorted me into her maze and my pity yielded to empty-headed horror, the older, drier fetor I had noticed the previous night gradually overwhelmed Clarence's atmosphere.

What gradually overwhelms the visitor is the variety of styles and materials (wood, bronze, clay, ivory and stone) and the sheer versatility of the artists.

While she held him in this nest she felt herself gradually overwhelmed by a strange wildness of heart and body.

In the next hours, the German occupation forces gradually overwhelmed the Czech fighters.

In her experience with the play, Ms. Rigg said, no less than in the French original, it is language - Mr. Hughes's language - that gradually overwhelms the audience.

While the depleted French forces put up stiff initial resistance, German air superiority and armored mobility gradually overwhelmed the remaining French forces.

In the aftermath of this defeat, the Celts seem to have displaced the Scythians from the Balkans; while in south Russia, a kindred tribe, the Sarmatians, gradually overwhelmed them.

Indeed, loyalty toward the polis will gradually overwhelm the traditional state patriotism of the 20th century.