wash over sb

[Archie]

Zidane’s agent cast Zinedine as “a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him”.
If you let things wash over you, so I guess it means that you don't care about it and simply don't let it bother you;you ignore it.
But Cambridge dictionary says that wash over sb means that
if a feeling or emotion washes over you, you suddenly feel it strongly.
One is a phrasal verb and the other one isn't and meaning changes because of that. Am I right??

[Coffa]

Zidane’s agent cast Zinedine as “a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him”.
If you let things wash over you, so I guess it means that you don't care about it and simply don't let it bother you;you ignore it.
But Cambridge dictionary says that wash over sb means that
if a feeling or emotion washes over you, you suddenly feel it strongly.
One is a phrasal verb and the other one isn't and meaning changes because of that. Am I right??

No, not really - 'to wash over' is a phrasal verb in both cases, and means the same thing.

For example:

1) "Violent emotions washed over me, and I was quite overcome." - I could not deal with the violent emotions that I suddenly felt.

2) "I just let the emotion wash over me, and concentrated on my task."

In 1), I felt the emotions strongly, and was upset.
In 2), I felt the emotions strongly, but I was able to deal with them. The difference is the verb 'let', which carries the connotation of 'ability to deal with'.

[Archie]

OK Thank you very much Coffa