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
Driven from their lucrative vices of old, the depraved element, at the polls, overawes decency.
From The Little Lady of Lagunitas A Franco-Californian Romance by Richard Savage
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
One holds and the other strikes; one guards and the other attacks; one overawes with terror and delusion, and the other smites with material weapons when the spiritual restraints fail.
From Flowers of Freethought (First Series) by G. W. (George William) Foote
Her odds of winning matches are certainly favourable at Wimbledon, especially if she faces a relatively inexperienced opponent who may get overawed by what is bound to be an electric occasion on Centre Court.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Neither looked overawed until O'Rourke returned for another nasty spell late in the day.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Meikle did not look overawed against his fellow Englishman and levelled, but Littler took the third set and exploded into life in the fourth.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2024
Despite being the youngest player to start a competitive match for Scotland since Willie Johnston in 1965, he did not look overawed or cowed.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024
Eleanor was trying really hard not to be overawed by Park's driving skills, but every time he changed lanes or checked the rearview mirror, she caught herself swooning.
From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell
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
From that overawing bulk there positively radiated high moral purpose, and Neil shriveled under it.
From Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford by George Randolph Chester
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.
