overfly
Americanverb (used with object)
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to fly over (a specified area, territory, country, etc.).
The plane lost its way and overflew foreign territory.
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to fly farther than or beyond; overshoot.
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to fly over or past instead of making a scheduled stop.
to overfly Philadelphia because of bad weather.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overflysimple
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overfliessimple
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have overflownperfect
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has overflownperfect
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am overflyingprogressive
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are overflyingprogressive
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is overflyingprogressive
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have been overflyingperfect progressive
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has been overflyingperfect progressive
Past
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overflewsimple
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had overflownperfect
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was overflyingprogressive
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were overflyingprogressive
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had been overflyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overfly
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:
Their competitive position has been further strengthened since 2022 by Russia's closure of its airspace to Western and Japanese carriers, while Gulf and Turkish airlines continue to overfly and serve the country.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
Risch intends to “reroute aircraft taking off/landing from Boise Airport so that they would overfly neighborhoods in Meridian instead of flying over his property near the airport,” Coose wrote from his personal email account.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2023
The heart of Japan’s security problem is missiles, and not just from China; North Korea regularly tests ballistic missiles that overfly Japanese territory.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 12, 2023
"Given the current circumstances and complexities, we're opting to use one of our alternative flight paths that doesn't overfly Russia, while we continue to monitor this evolving situation," it said in a statement.
From Reuters ● Feb. 27, 2022
This bird shall overfly the world from east to furthest west * And that shall win her every wish though ne'er she leave the nest.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
“Unscheduled drone overflies can present a distraction and potential accidents to employees who operate heavy machinery,” McClure said.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2022
“The advantage offered by a hypersonic offense is that it overflies air defenses as we understand them today, and it underflies our missile defenses. It goes into the gap between air defense and missile defense.”
From Washington Times ● Jun. 10, 2020
I sense an extrusion, noodle-like, of a mood of ambulatory viewership from the hundreds of Chelsea art galleries that the park overflies.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 7, 2014
Its purpose: to beam messages to Moscow via the Soviet satellite "Horizon" that overflies Western Europe.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Lowell said, indeed, that it "overflies all other English lyrics like an eagle."
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
“The pilot departed from a private airstrip and overflew his property,” states the NTSB’s aviation investigation final report, which does not mention Bloomquist by name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025
Jackson Regan overflew the post two minutes later.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024
Homendy said it appears likely the FedEx plane overflew the Southwest plane during their takeoff role momentarily and then Southwest passed beneath the FedEx plane again as its speed increased on takeoff.
From Reuters ● Feb. 6, 2023
The plane, still 37,000 feet up in the air, overflew the runway and then the autopilot disconnected.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
Whenever the presidential helicopter overflew a course, Bush telephoned Jenkins for a rundown.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 8, 2019
The victims died on Sunday and Monday in Minas Gerais state, where rivers have overflown, leaving towns partially submerged.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2022
Its military this month deployed tanks to the Tajik border with Afghanistan and has overflown the region with ground-attack jets, ostensibly on training exercises.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2021
"That island was overflown by a plane catapulted from the USS Colorado a few days after she went missing. The pilot didn't see any recent activity."
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2019
According to the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, several Israeli bulldozers entered the southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday overflown by drones, which would fit with the timeframe described by the Israeli military.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2016
Four days after launching Sputnik into orbit, Radio Moscow announced the addition of one more city to its timetable of destinations that would be overflown by their satellite: Little Rock, Arkansas.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
As cool as it would be to land on the roof of your office like George Jetson, federal regulations forbid ultralights and experimental aircraft from overflying populated areas—cities, suburbs, highway corridors, etc.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Initial ADS-B data show the landing 767 overflying the departing 737.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2023
At that juncture, they maneuvered the aircraft to land safely at runway 25L, around 25 minutes after overflying the runway, Aviation Herald reported.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
The plane was overflying Belarus on its way from Athens to Vilnius when Belarus controllers ordered it to land in Minsk, citing a bomb threat.
From Reuters ● Jan. 31, 2022
North Korea said the missile was launched toward the waters off its east coast and on a high angle to prevent it from overflying other countries.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 30, 2022
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.
