overtake
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overtakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overtook,
past
-
overtaken,
past participle
-
overtaking
present participle
-
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)
-
overtakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overtook,
past
-
overtaken,
past participle
-
overtaking
present participle
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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overtakesimple
-
overtakessimple
-
have overtakenperfect
-
has overtakenperfect
-
am overtakingprogressive
-
are overtakingprogressive
-
is overtakingprogressive
-
have been overtakingperfect progressive
-
has been overtakingperfect progressive
Past
-
overtooksimple
-
had overtakenperfect
-
was overtakingprogressive
-
were overtakingprogressive
-
had been overtakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overtake
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English overtaken; see over-, take
Vocabulary lists containing overtake
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:
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
This makes it easier to follow and overtake the car in front.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
On its third day as a public company, its market value is poised to overtake that of Amazon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
It won’t take much for SpaceX to overtake it.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
It’s matching our pace—which means we can’t slow down, not for an instant, because if we do, it will overtake us.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
By spending 19 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the UK singles chart, it overtakes the record set by American crooner Frankie Laine with his track I Believe, in 1953.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
I do not think Qualcomm overtakes Nvidia on raw AI performance — but it does not have to.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
That overtakes Canada, where U.S. exports totaled $336.5 billion or 15.4% of the total.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 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
The years he spoke of are now past; the night comes when a bitter marriage overtakes me, desolate as I am, deprived by Zeus of all the sweets of life.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
That Ishbia needed a bailout didn’t surprise some critics of the company, which overtook rival Rocket Mortgage as the largest mortgage lender by dollar volume by cultivating a network of brokers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Last term, when there were both more cases and more referrals to the full court, the appeals to the shadow docket finally overtook those to the merits docket.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
Michael also overtook Oppenheimer despite Noan's film benefitting from the viral "Barbenheimer" phenomenon in the summer of 2023.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
SK Hynix, which overtook Samsung as the market’s biggest stock this week, tumbled 12.5%, while Samsung fell 13.2%.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Dandelion overtook him and the two disappeared among the ilex trees.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
The Lovell Telescope has been overtaken in size by larger radio telescopes, but has continuously been modernised and remains key to the UK's radio astronomy capability.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Ten years after the fall of Troy, Odysseus still hasn’t returned home to Ithaca, and his kingdom has been overtaken by suitors crudely courting his wife’s hand.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
The room is overtaken with projections, scenes of bustling New York traffic paired with bachelor-pad-like guitar riffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Plans for celebrating the United States' 250th anniversary on Saturday have been quickly overtaken by storm preparations.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Still dazed, fearful the riders had overtaken him, Taran started up.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
Finucane is also Wales' most successful female athlete in Games history after overtaking Para-sprinter Olivia Breen, who held the record for two days.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Nvidia, as the chipmaker at the center of the AI boom, had held the No. 1 spot for over a year after overtaking Apple in May 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Asics’s has grown to 26 times, overtaking Nike’s earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The sector now makes up 30 percent of all Mexican products shipped to the United States, overtaking the automotive industry as the largest component of exports.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
He wanted to feel anything but a cold, crawling sense of calm that was overtaking him.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
