overawe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overawes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overawed,
past participle, past
-
overawing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overawesimple
-
overawessimple
-
have overawedperfect
-
has overawedperfect
-
am overawingprogressive
-
are overawingprogressive
-
is overawingprogressive
-
have been overawingperfect progressive
-
has been overawingperfect progressive
Past
-
overawedsimple
-
had overawedperfect
-
was overawingprogressive
-
were overawingprogressive
-
had been overawingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overawe
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:
Many had wondered whether the occasion would overawe Cameron, but she cut a relaxed figure as 'Don't worry about a thing' rang out during her ring walk.
From BBC ● May 20, 2023
Since conversion was thought to excuse conquest, these devotional artworks had to overawe their viewers.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
The West is more immediate and can still overawe the spectator with substantial remnants of its old annihilating grandeur.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2017
Hoping to overawe the people of the land, Lewis would let out a blast of his air rifle, a relatively new piece of technology the Native Americans had never seen.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
Jonathan’s impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they cowered, aside and let him pass.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
In the same way, these young people live in the light of the history of cinema, of the great age of Hollywood and the classic European cinema that also overarches and overawes the moderns.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2014
"The building is a personal statement by Rudolph," he says, "and it overawes a student who is looking for a place to make his own personal statement."
From Time Magazine Archive
It is the religious aspect of your enterprise which impresses and overawes men of every sect and party.
From William Lloyd Garrison The Abolitionist by Archibald Henry Grimké
Still Brutus overawes him by his moral energy and elevation of character, and by the open-faced rectitude and purity of his principles.
From The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar by Ebenezer Charlton Black
An excess of audacity calms and overawes him rather than irritates him.
From The Philippine Islands by John Foreman
Neither looked overawed until O'Rourke returned for another nasty spell late in the day.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Widdicombe said he was "giddy with excitement, honoured and a little overawed to be given the chance to step into the biggest shoes in television".
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
She was not overawed by this occasion, carrying the weight of the British number one tag at Wimbledon amid an electric atmosphere, with the crowd eager to celebrate her every success.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Far from appearing overawed, the 28-year-old, who had to come through qualifying, seemed right at home in his first Crucible final.
From BBC ● May 4, 2025
Despite his haste, his panic, his fear of what awaited him back in the bathroom, he could not help but be overawed by what he was looking at.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
For some young players, the attention might be overawing.
From BBC ● May 30, 2025
The first album I'd ever bought was Ziggy Stardust and I owned all his others, so it was overawing, but he was really generous as a performer.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 23, 2013
Nowhere among these republics have great military establishments ever been maintained for the purpose of overawing or subjugating other nations.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Europe through which his couple move is one of soft colors, handsome but not overawing.
From Time Magazine Archive
The task of overawing an Irish Parliament indeed was no very difficult one.
From History of the English People, Volume V Puritan England, 1603-1660 by John Richard Green
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
