Showing results for overtake. Search instead for Overtak.

Synonyms

overtake

American

[oh-ver-teyk] / ˌoʊ vərˈteɪk /

verb (used with object)

to catch up with in traveling or pursuit; draw even with.

By taking a cab to the next town, we managed to overtake and board the train.
to catch up with and pass, as in a race; move by.

He overtook the leader three laps from the finish.
to move ahead of in achievement, production, score, etc.; surpass.

to overtake all other countries in steel production.
to happen to or befall someone suddenly or unexpectedly, as night, a storm, or death.

The pounding rainstorm overtook them just outside the city.

verb (used without object)

to pass another vehicle.

Never overtake on a curve.

overtake British

/ ˌəʊvəˈteɪk /

verb

to move past (another vehicle or person) travelling in the same direction
(tr) to pass or do better than, after catching up with
(tr) to come upon suddenly or unexpectedly

night overtook him
(tr) to catch up with; draw level with

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

unovertaken

adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of overtake

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English overtaken; see over-, take

Vocabulary lists containing overtake

"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 2

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

overtake overtakes overtook overtaken overtaking

Sluis expects direct-to-consumer purchases may eventually overtake wholesale.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Is there a chance someone might overtake it, if only for a moment?

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

The Ministry of Justice has warned the prison population will overtake capacity as soon as this November.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Aimée thinks that Millennials in particular have so much nostalgia for catalogs because they were the generation that witnessed e-commerce overtake mail order.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

Then I saw the van speed up and try to overtake the car, to get in front and away.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

See more: SpaceX overtakes Amazon to become fifth-largest company in the world.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026

But more overtaking is not necessarily an entirely good thing - it depends on what makes the overtakes happen.

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026

“I speculate it will be a while—if ever—before Amazon overtakes Walmart in retailing,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026

He overtakes two of his compatriots who have won eight golds at Winter Olympics -- former cross-country skiers Marit Bjoergen and Bjoern Daehlie, and former biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026

However, when the grizzly overtakes you, as it most assuredly will, you should fall to the ground and play dead.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Slovenian Roglic, who rides for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, overtook Felix Gall in the standings after the Austrian came home in 25th position, 1:36 slower than his podium rival.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

Cloudflare, an internet-infrastructure company that provides web security and bot-detection tools to millions of websites, says bots overtook humans on its network in June, generating 57% of all traffic it sees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Taylor, 20, is also from Burgess Hill and was riding his legal motorbike to work one day when he overtook two bikes as they pulled out from a junction.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

At times, the music overtook the gallery, completely captivating the attention of the room.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

The chaise overtook and passed the marching farmers.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes

Ella Langley's country smash Choosin' Texas has overtaken Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You to become the longest-running number one single in US chart history.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Six months into the war, the supply crunch for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline has overtaken upheaval in the crude-oil market as the energy industry’s primary concern.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

“Natural gas has also overtaken oil as the primary inflation concern for European bond traders,” Danske Bank’s Jesper Fjarstedt says in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Now all of that has been overtaken by his sudden and shocking death.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

He was close enough for me to see the red flush that had overtaken his face, but he hadn’t seen me.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

Even before the race weekend began, drivers were predicting that overtaking would be next to impossible at the new Madring, and they were proved right.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

How is it that we should lay the track out when it comes to overtaking also?'

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Norris was able to recover only to third around the new Madring track in Madrid where overtaking is next to impossible.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

In Norris' favour is that overtaking is expected to be especially difficult.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

And now there were more, even more people storming up the front steps, and Harry saw Charlie Weasley overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emerald pajamas.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023