outnumber
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outnumbersimple
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outnumberssimple
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have outnumberedperfect
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has outnumberedperfect
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am outnumberingprogressive
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are outnumberingprogressive
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is outnumberingprogressive
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have been outnumberingperfect progressive
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has been outnumberingperfect progressive
Past
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outnumberedsimple
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had outnumberedperfect
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was outnumberingprogressive
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were outnumberingprogressive
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had been outnumberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outnumber
Explanation
To outnumber is to have more of one thing than another. Sometimes it’s good, like when chocolate chips outnumber the raisins in the trail mix. Sometimes it’s bad, like when ants outnumber the people at a picnic. In many cities, pigeons seem to outnumber any other kind of bird — in other words, there are more pigeons than sparrows, crows, and robins. If the girls in a class outnumber boys by three to one, there are three times more girls than boys. And in a school cafeteria, lunches that include meat will often outnumber the vegetarian choices. This verb has been around since the 1600s. It makes it sound like counting is a competition.
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:
A new report from the nonprofit news organization the Trace shows ICE shootings are on pace to outnumber last year’s.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Immigrant advocates hope to have a more vocal champion in Becerra, the favorite to become governor in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Motorbikes are ubiquitous in Hanoi, with nearly seven million used by commuters, families or weighed down by piles of goods, and they outnumber cars roughly seven to one.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
U.S. muscle cars are driven down the medieval streets here, where Americans outnumber Germans 2 to 1.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Consequently, if humans cut down even one diprotodon every few months, it would be enough to cause diprotodon deaths to outnumber births.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
The Titanic Syndrome indicator triggers when the Nasdaq Composite is at, or near, record territory, while the number of constituent stocks within it that are hitting fresh 52-week lows outnumbers those making new 52-week highs.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2025
With roughly 70 of them, the U.S.’s nuclear-submarine fleet outnumbers China by more than five to one, according to U.S. military and third-party estimates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
Meta says the number of photos sent in direct messages now outnumbers those shared for all to see.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2024
The decision comes just days after housing activists announced over the weekend that the number of tourist beds in Venice now outnumbers the number of residents, citing official city data.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
Against the lady's-maid in petticoats, who outnumbers him a hundred to one, I have nothing to say—quite the contrary.
From Thirty Years in Australia by Cambridge, Ada
“So-called dark crossings outnumbered observable passages for the previous three days,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
The restrictions have transformed the face of Herat, once known as Afghanistan's cultural capital where female university students outnumbered men before the Taliban government returned.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
But 1988 was the first year that female undergraduates outnumbered men on college campuses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Police would be stricter, they would be outnumbered by South American fans - and they couldn't possibly wear kilts in the baking sun.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
At the time, black South Africans outnumbered white South Africans nearly five to one, yet we were divided into different tribes with different languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Sotho, Venda, Ndebele, Tsonga, Pedi, and more.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
Men account for 53 percent of players and women 46 percent, with women actually outnumbering men among Baby Boomers, the ESA said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
She added that the phenomenon of robots fighting robots was likely to become more common, with unmanned systems even outnumbering human soldiers.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
As a result, China has gone on to suffer from a severe gender imbalance, with men now outnumbering women by over 30 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Domestic chain Meiyijia has quietly blanketed neighborhoods across China, vastly outnumbering foreign rivals.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
The fact to keep in mind is that in the 1950s “blacks” made up about 80 percent of the Jamaican population, outnumbering coloreds five to one.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
