Showing results for overwrite. Search instead for over write.

overwrite

American

[oh-ver-rahyt] / ˌoʊ vərˈraɪt /

verb (used with object)

to write in too elaborate, burdensome, diffuse, or prolix a style.

He overwrites his essays to the point of absurdity.
to write in excess of the requirements, especially so as to defeat the original intention.

That young playwright tends to overwrite her big scenes.
to write on or over; cover with writing.

a flyleaf overwritten with a dedication.

verb (used without object)

to write too elaborately.

The problem with so many young authors is that they tend to overwrite.

overwrite British

/ ˌəʊvəˈraɪt /

verb

to write (something) in an excessively ornate or prolix style
to write too much about (someone or something)
to write on top of (other writing)
to record on a storage medium, such as a magnetic disk, thus destroying what was originally recorded there

"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

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of overwrite

First recorded in 1690–1700; over- + write

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:

overwrite overwrites overwrote overwritten overwriting

"What we've tried to do is respect those tunes and not overwrite them, the melodies stay central, but they're presented differently. That sense of respect is something people really seem to respond to," Coyle explained.

From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026

Depending on the rules you’ve set for yourself, this might be the moment for a small, intentional grocery shop: a handful of items meant to support what’s already in your kitchen, not overwrite it.

From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026

“Celebrities do not get to overwrite small-business names just because they are famous,” John Hoover told TMZ.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2025

A charger sold in the UK by Project EV allowed researchers to overwrite its firmware.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 13, 2023

Aymer had sought rather to overwrite the rude scrawl of Marley Sartin than to erase it.

From Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker by Marguerite Bryant

That is, until another party overwrites his code, transforming him into the best reason for “Romulus” to exist.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2025

The hive-mind of our writers’ room and cast: a back-and-forth that writes and overwrites the characters and their choices, enriching the psychological stock of the soup.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025

It overwrites their personhood, their lived experience, the degree to which they wish to be medicated.

From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2020

Even if Favreau overwrites the look of the film, he has the good sense not to dispose of its spirit.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 22, 2019

Regardless of the level of language acquired, language overwrites the senses.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin

He waxed poetic when it didn’t help his prose and overwrote shamelessly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

Anonymous: So powerful, thank you, that one selfless gesture overwrote an entire relationship.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2022

A 2012 attack that American officials attributed to Iran overwrote the hard drives of the Saudi state oil company Aramco with the image of a burning American flag.

From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2020

Therefore, in certain circumstances, it accidentally overwrote some adjacent memory it wasn’t supposed to be using.

From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2017

I once overwrote all my photographs and about five hours of great French hip-hop using Time Machine, and haven't trusted myself with it since.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2013

For years, researchers have debated why the name of the Assyrian king originally associated with the monument was overwritten with the name of another "Tiglath-pileser."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

In his latest book, “Other Rivers,” Peter Hessler observes that in China, memory is often physically overwritten by the mechanics of development.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

After queuing, Southern said her mum was told by staff they could not find her booking and discovered her travel agents had "overwritten" it.

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026

The series has the strange quality of being under- and overwritten; people don’t talk much, and when they do, they don’t necessarily talk like people: “There are 170,000 words in the English language,” says Bosko.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2024

Small and strange was the writing, overwritten and interlined by many hands, and all those hands were dust now.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin

We are overwriting a signal the body is already sending, and we’re doing it at scale, in millions of people, without a baseline measurement to tell us what we’re overwriting.

From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2026

But such powerful dramas can have a habit of overwriting history - and Sheen’s performance could change forever how Prince Andrew will be remembered.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024

Here the reviews were mixed, with critics sometimes citing him for overwriting.

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

It’s like you’re overwriting the hard disk with new memories, Tang said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023

Because of this overwriting feature, logs were available to Finnell only for the relatively short period from October 1, 2001 to October 3, 2001.

From Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Ruling by United States District Court For The Eastern District Of Pennsylvania

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