override

American  

[oh-ver-rahyd, oh-ver-rahyd] / ˌoʊ vərˈraɪd, ˈoʊ vərˌraɪd /

verb (used with object)

• overrides,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overrode,
  past
• overridden,
  past participle
• overriding
  present participle

1. to prevail or have dominance over; have final authority or say over; overrule.

   to override one's advisers.

2. to disregard, set aside, or nullify; countermand.

   to override the board's veto.

3. to take precedence over; preempt or supersede.

   to override any other considerations.

4. to extend beyond or spread over; overlap.

5. to modify or suspend the ordinary functioning of; alter the normal operation of.

6. to ride over or across.

7. to ride past or beyond.

8. to trample or crush; ride down.

9. to ride (a horse) too much.

10. Fox Hunting. to ride too closely behind (the hounds).

---

noun

• overrides
  plural

1. a commission on sales or profits, especially one paid at the executive or managerial level.

2. budgetary or expense increase; exceeding of an estimate.

   work stoppage because of cost overrides.

3. an ability or allowance to correct, change, supplement, or suspend the operation of an otherwise automatic mechanism, system, etc.

4. an auxiliary device for such modification, as a special manual control.

5. an act of nullifying, canceling, or setting aside.

   a congressional override of the president's veto.

6. Radio and Television Slang. something that is a dominant or major facet of a program or series, especially something that serves as a unifying theme.

   an entertainment series with a historical override.

override British  

/ ˌəʊvəˈraɪd /

verb

1. to set aside or disregard with superior authority or power

2. to supersede or annul

3. to dominate or vanquish by or as if by trampling down

4. to take manual control of (a system that is usually under automatic control)

5. to extend or pass over, esp to overlap

6. to ride (a horse) too hard

7. to ride over or across

---

noun

1. a device or system that can override an automatic control

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• overrides
  plural

Participles

• overriding
  present
• overridden
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• override
  simple
• overrides
  simple
• have overridden
  perfect
• has overridden
  perfect
• am overriding
  progressive
• are overriding
  progressive
• is overriding
  progressive
• have been overriding
  perfect progressive
• has been overriding
  perfect progressive

Past

• overrode
  simple
• had overridden
  perfect
• was overriding
  progressive
• were overriding
  progressive
• had been overriding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will override
  simple
• will have overridden
  perfect
• will be overriding
  progressive
• will have been overriding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of override

before 900; Middle English overriden to ride over or across, Old English oferrīdan. See over-, ride

Explanation

You can override or reject a decision if you're more powerful than the person who originally made the decision. And Congress has the power to override or nullify the Presidential veto if they have a two-thirds vote. The word override can be used in a number of contexts. You can override or ride on top of the grass. You can override a horse, or ride it too hard. An army can override or dominate the enemy in a war. And a judge can override or set aside a decision in court. Regardless of which meaning you're using, remember that the thing doing the overriding always has the upper hand.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

override overrides overrode overridden overriding

Instead, Batchik said, Icelanders decided the potential benefits of membership weren’t enough to override worries that joining the EU could undermine the country’s sovereignty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

If the account owner had a will leaving this bank account to a third party, it would generally not override a valid beneficiary designation.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

"The fundamental right to walk on demarcated footpaths shall override the privilege of a motorised vehicle," he declared.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

China has drawn up new safety rules for the growing number of autonomous vehicles on its roads, including a mandatory deactivation override, the government said Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

I have the option of voice override at any time, but have no idea why I would use it.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

But according to the research of professor Richard Hasen, the rate of congressional overrides has steadily decreased over the years as Congress becomes slower and less productive with each passing term.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

He pointed to a recent landmark bill, State Senate Bill 79, which overrides local zoning laws to allow for taller, denser buildings near major transit stops.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

Employees are no longer trained to perform overrides they are not expected to use.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2026

Virtually everyone with a smartphone has installed an app run by the military’s Home Front Command, which overrides silent mode to blast out early warnings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

My eagerness to escape into the woods, if only for two hours, overrides my current concerns.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

UnitedHealthcare overrode the prior authorization about 48 hours later, according to Noonan.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

One study found that Congress used to overturn several opinions practically every term, including a particularly effective 1991 Congress that overrode eight Supreme Court decisions.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

Last year, researchers at the UK's AI Security Institute found jailbreaks that overrode safeguards across a range of harmful requests in every AI system it tested.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

StatNews reported that Dr. Prasad overrode his staff.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026

Johnny’s father had one passion that overrode all his other interests and kept him going through those hard years—rowing.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Cutler said this has a lower likelihood of being overridden by courts, noting Trump's top trade official Jamieson Greer had carefully navigated procedural requirements before imposing duties.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

In the past, board chairs have rarely, if ever, overridden the executives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI software, said on X that the driver had manually overridden the system by “by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

"It says he was vetted, and it says he was appointed, but it doesn't say it was overridden… I'm saying is that, you know, people have basically been telling us half the story," she added.

From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026

Only Florida and Alabama allowed the jury's decision to be overridden by a judge—and Florida later put restrictions on the practice that severely curtailed it.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

As a political reporter, I came away from Comic Con with one overriding impression: If world politics were more like the comic book world, reality would be a safer, saner and healthier place.

From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026

Beginning with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, America embraced equality among races and between the sexes as overriding policy goals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

"The overriding priority is to rescue as many people as possible while urgently providing life-saving health care to the injured," said Ciro Ugarte, emergencies director for PAHO, the UN health agency's Americas regional branch.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

Whether two people who are each unhappy can make it as a couple becomes the overriding theme of the film.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

The air is warm on my bare back, and my breath comes in short pants, my embarrassment almost overriding my fear.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

Related Words

• abrogate
• annul
• nullify
• quash
• reverse
• revoke
• veto