outstrip
Americanverb (used with object)
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outstrips,
present (3rd person singular)
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outstripped,
past participle, past
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outstripping
present participle
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to outdo; surpass; excel.
-
to outdo or pass in running or swift travel.
A car can outstrip the local train.
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to get ahead of or leave behind in a race or in any course of competition.
-
to exceed.
a demand that outstrips the supply.
verb
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to surpass in a sphere of activity, competition, etc
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to be or grow greater than
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to go faster than and leave behind
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outstripsimple
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outstripssimple
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have outstrippedperfect
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has outstrippedperfect
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am outstrippingprogressive
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are outstrippingprogressive
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is outstrippingprogressive
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have been outstrippingperfect progressive
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has been outstrippingperfect progressive
Past
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outstrippedsimple
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had outstrippedperfect
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was outstrippingprogressive
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were outstrippingprogressive
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had been outstrippingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outstrip
Explanation
While outstrip might make you think about undressing, it really means outdoing. If the productivity of your garden outstrips your neighbor's, expect the neighborhood to come calling for fresh vegetables. If one thing outstrips another, it exceeds it or goes beyond it. When you outstrip someone during a race, you pass them. When one company’s profits outstrip another’s, they make more money. When the productivity of one nation outstrips the neighboring nation, they will have a bigger Gross National Product.
Vocabulary lists containing outstrip
Flowers for Algernon
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Grendel
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Sapiens
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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:
The new budget would still far outstrip the EU's last one, which was worth around 1.2 trillion euros.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
One big reason behind Luria’s optimism is that demand for memory chips is set to outstrip supply for several years.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Sandisk expects adjusted gross margins to remain at around 80% through 2030 as demand for memory continues to outstrip supply.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Samsung's latest forecast, released on Tuesday ahead of its full results due later in July, comes as demand for semiconductors continues to outstrip supplies - which has pushed up prices.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Hrothgar, who’d begun hardly stronger than the others, began to outstrip the rest.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
One in five pupils in Northern Ireland - more than 70,000 - have some form of SEN, and demand for school places outstrips capacity.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The company has also been able to raise prices as demand for these chips outstrips supply.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Her compensation as stated in the latest available tax filings outstrips the pay for leaders of much larger nonprofits in the homelessness arena.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
So long as Nvidia continues to use all three suppliers and memory demand outstrips overall supply, Micron should resume its rally.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
I have imagined him afraid many times, but the reality outstrips those imaginings.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
It means the price of electricity will fall, but that's been more than outstripped by an 8% rise in the price of gas.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Demand from retail investors significantly outstripped supply, with over 8,000 times more orders than shares available, it said ahead of its float.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
As the pre-war avant-garde’s celebration of image-breaking, violent spectacle and weird hybridizing became muddy reality in the field, the amateurs outstripped the professionals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
"But in 2026, it is now the largest diaspora community within Australia. It has outstripped the British, which is a huge demographic change," she told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
He believes that science is going to transform the world and that the moderns have outstripped the ancients in every possible respect.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Experts said a rise in diagnoses over the past 25 years meant cases now appear to be outstripping the expected number in the population for some younger age groups.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Alarm mounted throughout the summer as researchers at leading AI labs found the pace of development far outstripping their expectations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
With demand growth outstripping new power supply, incumbent power plants could reap higher prices for their output without putting much capital at risk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Equally, though, his supporters would point to his personal appeal seemingly outstripping his party, connecting with parts of the region his party cannot reach.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
But the complexity of nuclear physics was rapidly outstripping the capabilities of the laboratory apparatus of small science.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
