overawe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overawes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overawed,
past participle, past
-
overawing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overawesimple
-
overawessimple
-
have overawedperfect
-
has overawedperfect
-
am overawingprogressive
-
are overawingprogressive
-
is overawingprogressive
-
have been overawingperfect progressive
-
has been overawingperfect progressive
Past
-
overawedsimple
-
had overawedperfect
-
was overawingprogressive
-
were overawingprogressive
-
had been overawingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overawe
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:
Since conversion was thought to excuse conquest, these devotional artworks had to overawe their viewers.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
The challenge of Test cricket would not overawe him.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2022
The West is more immediate and can still overawe the spectator with substantial remnants of its old annihilating grandeur.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2017
Hoping to overawe the people of the land, Lewis would let out a blast of his air rifle, a relatively new piece of technology the Native Americans had never seen.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
Jonathan’s impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they cowered, aside and let him pass.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
In the same way, these young people live in the light of the history of cinema, of the great age of Hollywood and the classic European cinema that also overarches and overawes the moderns.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2014
"The building is a personal statement by Rudolph," he says, "and it overawes a student who is looking for a place to make his own personal statement."
From Time Magazine Archive
Then how would shine that master power within him which overawes men's minds or bends them to his purpose!
From Corianton A Nephite Story by B. H. Roberts
But he left a fame never since surpassed, and “he overawes the imagination more than any personage of antiquity.”
From Ancient States and Empires by John Lord
He who overawes the nations, In thy mighty noise confessed, Groaned and sighed with troubled spirit, By our guilt and sin oppressed.
From Favourite Welsh Hymns Translated into English by Joseph Morris
Her odds of winning matches are certainly favourable at Wimbledon, especially if she faces a relatively inexperienced opponent who may get overawed by what is bound to be an electric occasion on Centre Court.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Stidham has not thrown a pass in an NFL game for two years but Payton believes he will not be overawed, and the 62-year-old will tailor his gameplan.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
She was not overawed by this occasion, carrying the weight of the British number one tag at Wimbledon amid an electric atmosphere, with the crowd eager to celebrate her every success.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Outplayed and overawed in the first set, a superb backhand winner gave the Frenchwoman a crucial break in the second set.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2025
A moment later, I spotted the young Mr Cardinal not far away, still standing on his own, and it struck me the young gentleman might be feeling somewhat overawed in the present company.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
For some young players, the attention might be overawing.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
The first album I'd ever bought was Ziggy Stardust and I owned all his others, so it was overawing, but he was really generous as a performer.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 23, 2013
Nowhere among these republics have great military establishments ever been maintained for the purpose of overawing or subjugating other nations.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Europe through which his couple move is one of soft colors, handsome but not overawing.
From Time Magazine Archive
Instead of overawing the country, the appearance of the royal fleet in the Forth was the signal for Leslie's march with 20,000 men to the Border.
From History of the English People, Volume V Puritan England, 1603-1660 by John Richard Green
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.
