Showing results for overtake. Search instead for over take.

Synonyms

overtake

American

[oh-ver-teyk] / ˌoʊ vərˈteɪk /

verb (used with object)

to catch up with in traveling or pursuit; draw even with.

By taking a cab to the next town, we managed to overtake and board the train.
to catch up with and pass, as in a race; move by.

He overtook the leader three laps from the finish.
to move ahead of in achievement, production, score, etc.; surpass.

to overtake all other countries in steel production.
to happen to or befall someone suddenly or unexpectedly, as night, a storm, or death.

The pounding rainstorm overtook them just outside the city.

verb (used without object)

to pass another vehicle.

Never overtake on a curve.

overtake British

/ ˌəʊvəˈteɪk /

verb

to move past (another vehicle or person) travelling in the same direction
(tr) to pass or do better than, after catching up with
(tr) to come upon suddenly or unexpectedly

night overtook him
(tr) to catch up with; draw level with

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

unovertaken

adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of overtake

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English overtaken; see over-, take

Vocabulary lists containing overtake

"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 2

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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:

overtake overtakes overtook overtaken overtaking

Sluis expects direct-to-consumer purchases may eventually overtake wholesale.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Is there a chance someone might overtake it, if only for a moment?

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Aimée thinks that Millennials in particular have so much nostalgia for catalogs because they were the generation that witnessed e-commerce overtake mail order.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

He will leave Wimbledon at worst 63rd in the rankings and will overtake Jan Choinski to become the new British number two.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

Then he told his friends: “Too late for messages. Look, here they come along the bay. Some god has brought them news, or else they saw the cutter pass—and could not overtake her.”

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

By spending 19 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the UK singles chart, it overtakes the record set by American crooner Frankie Laine with his track I Believe, in 1953.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

I do not think Qualcomm overtakes Nvidia on raw AI performance — but it does not have to.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

Even when they’re ahead of his pace, they know it’s only a matter of time until the American overtakes them and leaves them in the dust.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026

He overtakes two of his compatriots who have won eight golds at Winter Olympics -- former cross-country skiers Marit Bjoergen and Bjoern Daehlie, and former biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026

“Yes, it is beautiful to look at. Remember that when the ugliness overtakes you,” Afi told her.

From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper

Tomkins, whose vehicle was not involved in the collision, overtook Ahmed at 78mph shortly before the crash, prosecutors say.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Cloudflare, an internet-infrastructure company that provides web security and bot-detection tools to millions of websites, says bots overtook humans on its network in June, generating 57% of all traffic it sees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

At times, the music overtook the gallery, completely captivating the attention of the room.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Pyrrait wrote on Instagram, external that they had stopped to drink water and take photos, before setting off again with Strong initially in the lead, before the coach overtook him.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

But two days later a multiple telegram which almost overtook the previous one announced another uprising on the southern plains.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Six months into the war, the supply crunch for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline has overtaken upheaval in the crude-oil market as the energy industry’s primary concern.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

He has also reached a career high of 33 in the world and overtaken Cameron Norrie to become British number one.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

“Natural gas has also overtaken oil as the primary inflation concern for European bond traders,” Danske Bank’s Jesper Fjarstedt says in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

It was overtaken by “Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s” $360 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

Now was the time to ask about the trip, but the same torpor that had overtaken Father also affected Tendai.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

Drivers pointed out the lack of overtaking opportunities on the new Madring, with Williams' Alex Albon claiming the race was "pretty boring" and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto saying he "almost fell asleep".

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

The drivers had warned that overtaking would be almost impossible, and so it proved.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

And that lack of width, on the eye at least, suggests overtaking will be virtually impossible.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

The Dutchman briefly took the lead from Russell on lap 11, before the Briton re-passed him three laps later, Antonelli overtaking the Red Bull into the second chicane.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

It occurs to me what the unfamiliar feeling is that’s overtaking me: well-being.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023