overcast

American  

[oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst] / ˈoʊ vərˈkæst, -ˈkɑst, ˈoʊ vərˌkæst, -ˌkɑst, ˌoʊ vərˈkæst, -ˈkɑst, ˈoʊ vərˌkæst, -ˌkɑst, ˈoʊ vərˌkæst, -ˌkɑst /

adjective

1. overspread or covered with clouds; cloudy.

   an overcast day.

2. Meteorology. (of the sky) more than 95 percent covered by clouds.

3. dark; gloomy.

4. Sewing. sewn by overcasting.

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verb (used with object)

• overcasts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overcast,
  past participle,  past
• overcasting
  present participle

1. to overcloud, darken, or make gloomy.

   Ominous clouds began to overcast the sky.

2. to sew with stitches passing successively over an edge, especially long stitches set at intervals to prevent raveling.

verb (used without object)

• overcasts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overcast,
  past participle,  past
• overcasting
  present participle

1. to become cloudy or dark.

   By noon it had begun to overcast.

noun

1. Meteorology. the condition of the sky when more than 95 percent covered by clouds.

2. Mining. a crossing of two passages, as airways, dug at the same level, in which one rises to pass over the other without opening into it.

overcast British  

adjective

1. covered over or obscured, esp by clouds

2. meteorol (of the sky) more than 95 per cent cloud-covered

3. gloomy or melancholy

4. sewn over by overcasting

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verb

1. to make or become overclouded or gloomy

2. to sew (an edge, as of a hem) with long stitches passing successively over the edge

noun

1. a covering, as of clouds or mist

2. meteorol the state of the sky when more than 95 per cent of it is cloud-covered

3. mining a crossing of two passages without an intersection

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• overcasting
  present
• overcast
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• overcast
  simple
• overcasts
  simple
• have overcast
  perfect
• has overcast
  perfect
• am overcasting
  progressive
• are overcasting
  progressive
• is overcasting
  progressive
• have been overcasting
  perfect progressive
• has been overcasting
  perfect progressive

Past

• overcast
  simple
• had overcast
  perfect
• was overcasting
  progressive
• were overcasting
  progressive
• had been overcasting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will overcast
  simple
• will have overcast
  perfect
• will be overcasting
  progressive
• will have been overcasting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of overcast

1175–1225; Middle English (v.); see over-, cast

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Explanation

Use the adjective overcast when you're describing a cloudy sky. An overcast day can be dark, cold, and gloomy, or just quiet and calm. A day that's gray and cloudy is overcast, and a dull, sunless sky can also be described this way. A less common way to use overcast is when you talk about sewing — an overcast stitch catches the edge of the fabric to keep it from fraying — and the stitch itself is sometimes called an overcast. Before the weather-related adjective was coined, overcast was a verb meaning "to cover" or "to overthrow."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overcast overcasts overcasting

The effect also occurred at illumination levels similar to those found indoors or outside on an overcast day.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

Skies are frequently overcast, and winters are cold, gray and gloomy.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

It was overcast outside, but I knew the sun could break through at any moment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

Friday night also might end up quite overcast for many but those patient enough to wait until Saturday night will have the best viewing chances.

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026

It was overcast, and the sky looked exactly the same as it had in camp.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

Three months earlier, Blankenship had told mine superintendents to "ignore" requests to build overcasts -- devices that are important for ventilating deadly gases from mines.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2010

Old flying boats venture out and up through pea-soup overcasts, often to rescue flyers from a sea so cold that few men have survived after floating in it for more than 30 minutes.

From Time Magazine Archive

And should the river of our happy laughter Flow 'neath a sky no cloud yet overcasts, We will not fear the shadows coming after, But make the most of sunshine while it lasts.

From Yule-Tide in Many Lands by L. J. (Lewis Jesse) Bridgman

Why that ominous redness which overcasts the heavens?

From The Second Deluge by Garrett Putman Serviss

When we first called she had just passed her fourth birthday, and now overcasts from three to four pairs of pants every day.

From The Arena Volume 4, No. 19, June, 1891 by B. O. (Benjamin Orange) Flower

John Goodman can do the oaky solidity, but perhaps might be overcasting.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 29, 2012

When she was dancing with Arthur Henty, Michael had seen the sudden drooping and overcasting of her gaiety.

From The Black Opal by Katharine Susannah Prichard

It has been objected that modern overcasting takes away much of the flexibility of a book and that books once sewed in this way can never be rebound.

From Library Bookbinding by Arthur Low Bailey

Stitching makes a stronger book than the old-fashioned whipstitching but cannot compare in strength with the modern overcasting.

From Library Bookbinding by Arthur Low Bailey

The success of overcasting depends largely on the amount of margin at the back, so that care must be taken not to cut more than is absolutely necessary.

From Library Bookbinding by Arthur Low Bailey

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Related Words

• dismal
• dreary
• dull
• hazy
• leaden
• murky

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