overcast

American  

[oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst] / ˈoʊ vərˈkæst, -ˈkɑst, ˈoʊ vərˌkæst, -ˌkɑst, ˌoʊ vərˈkæst, -ˈkɑst, ˈoʊ vərˌkæst, -ˌkɑst, ˈoʊ vərˌkæst, -ˌkɑst /

adjective

1. overspread or covered with clouds; cloudy.

   an overcast day.

2. Meteorology. (of the sky) more than 95 percent covered by clouds.

3. dark; gloomy.

4. Sewing. sewn by overcasting.

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verb (used with object)

• overcasts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overcast,
  past participle,  past
• overcasting
  present participle

1. to overcloud, darken, or make gloomy.

   Ominous clouds began to overcast the sky.

2. to sew with stitches passing successively over an edge, especially long stitches set at intervals to prevent raveling.

verb (used without object)

• overcasts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overcast,
  past participle,  past
• overcasting
  present participle

1. to become cloudy or dark.

   By noon it had begun to overcast.

noun

1. Meteorology. the condition of the sky when more than 95 percent covered by clouds.

2. Mining. a crossing of two passages, as airways, dug at the same level, in which one rises to pass over the other without opening into it.

overcast British  

adjective

1. covered over or obscured, esp by clouds

2. meteorol (of the sky) more than 95 per cent cloud-covered

3. gloomy or melancholy

4. sewn over by overcasting

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verb

1. to make or become overclouded or gloomy

2. to sew (an edge, as of a hem) with long stitches passing successively over the edge

noun

1. a covering, as of clouds or mist

2. meteorol the state of the sky when more than 95 per cent of it is cloud-covered

3. mining a crossing of two passages without an intersection

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• overcasting
  present
• overcast
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• overcast
  simple
• overcasts
  simple
• have overcast
  perfect
• has overcast
  perfect
• am overcasting
  progressive
• are overcasting
  progressive
• is overcasting
  progressive
• have been overcasting
  perfect progressive
• has been overcasting
  perfect progressive

Past

• overcast
  simple
• had overcast
  perfect
• was overcasting
  progressive
• were overcasting
  progressive
• had been overcasting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will overcast
  simple
• will have overcast
  perfect
• will be overcasting
  progressive
• will have been overcasting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of overcast

1175–1225; Middle English (v.); see over-, cast

Explanation

Use the adjective overcast when you're describing a cloudy sky. An overcast day can be dark, cold, and gloomy, or just quiet and calm. A day that's gray and cloudy is overcast, and a dull, sunless sky can also be described this way. A less common way to use overcast is when you talk about sewing — an overcast stitch catches the edge of the fabric to keep it from fraying — and the stitch itself is sometimes called an overcast. Before the weather-related adjective was coined, overcast was a verb meaning "to cover" or "to overthrow."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overcast overcasts overcasting

It was overcast outside, but I knew the sun could break through at any moment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

On an overcast Wednesday morning in Salt Lake City this summer, four bicyclists gathered in an industrial area not far from the city’s airport before fanning out across town.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

On overcast days, when the sun was hidden, pigeons that lacked the macrophages lost their sense of direction and had difficulty navigating home.

From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026

The discourse is civil and the banter is friendly on this humid, overcast morning before Trump's visit, but such across-the-aisle political discussions are few and far between, residents say.

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

We watched it advance toward us, the engine throwing up balls of steam to add to the heavy overcast.

From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

Three months earlier, Blankenship had told mine superintendents to "ignore" requests to build overcasts -- devices that are important for ventilating deadly gases from mines.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2010

Old flying boats venture out and up through pea-soup overcasts, often to rescue flyers from a sea so cold that few men have survived after floating in it for more than 30 minutes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Good Heavens, my dear, how deeply is your father still immersed in material things! how dense is his understanding, and what gloom overcasts his soul!

From The Pretentious Young Ladies by Molière

Suddenly it drives down before it a storm which overcasts the blue sky, so that it is pitch dark in the valley.

From Timar's Two Worlds by Mór Jókai

When every drop of blood in the veins is pure a beauteous flush overcasts the young girl's cheek.

From Right Living as a Fine Art A Study of Channing's Symphony as an Outline of the Ideal Life and Character by Newell Dwight Hillis

John Goodman can do the oaky solidity, but perhaps might be overcasting.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 29, 2012

As soon as the overcasting is done, proceed with the button-holing without breaking the thread.

From Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Science in Rural Schools by Ontario. Ministry of Education

He does not know his own mind,” said Mr. May, his countenance overcasting.

From Phoebe, Junior by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

With all the power of light from the clouds, there was an overcasting of the gloom of evening, a twilight upon the hills.

From Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803 by John Campbell Shairp

This method takes the place of serging or overcasting and is much better for thin ravelly goods.

From The Copeland Method A Complete Manual for Cleaning, Repairing, Altering and Pressing All Kinds of Garments for Men and Women, at Home or for Busines by Vanness Copeland

Related Words

• dismal
• dreary
• dull
• hazy
• leaden
• murky