overgrow
Americanverb (used with object)
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to grow over; cover with a growth of something.
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to grow beyond, grow too large for, or outgrow.
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to outdo in growing; choke or supplant by a more exuberant growth.
verb (used without object)
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to grow to excess; grow too large.
When the vegetable overgrows, it tends to be woody.
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to become grown over, as with weeds.
An untended garden will quickly overgrow.
verb
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(tr) to grow over or across (an area, path, lawn, etc)
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(tr) to choke or supplant by a stronger growth
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(tr) to grow too large for
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(intr) to grow beyond normal size
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of overgrow
First recorded in 1300–50, overgrow is from the Middle English word overgrowen. See over-, grow
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:
We moved on to his backyard, where mi tío had trimmed hedges that the previous owner let overgrow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2023
Don’t let plants overgrow them, and make sure no dirt or debris is getting in.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
People who take high doses of antibiotics tend to lose many of their normal gut bacteria, allowing a naturally antibiotic-resistant species called Clostridium difficile to overgrow and cause severe gastric problems, especially chronic diarrhea.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Mr Merrick, who was from Leicester, is thought to have had a condition called Proteus syndrome which can cause tissue to overgrow.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2021
The time seemed near when the sea-weed should overgrow her silent Rialto, and the fisherman wash his nets in her deserted arsenal.
From Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 2 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
A few days of stubble almost overgrew a soul patch under his lip, like weeds overtaking a garden.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2016
Grass overgrew "South Penn" embankments, saplings pushed their way through its rock ballast and water seeped higher and higher over the rubble of the tunnels.
From Time Magazine Archive
It showed no variation but of tint: green, where rush and moss overgrew the marshes; black, where the dry soil bore only heath.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
There a tattered marigold And dead asters manifold, Showed him where the garden old Of time bloomed: Briar and thistle overgrew Corners where the rose once blew, Where the phlox of every hue Lay entombed.
From The Cup of Comus Fact and Fancy by Cawein, Madison Julius
The surrounding bush, in its wild entanglement, completely overgrew it.
From The Heart of Unaga by Cullum, Ridgwell
Researchers speculate that people may have brought the rodent to California as a natural remedy to battle overgrowing vegetation or simply because they liked them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
We are witnessing a population of infant black holes overgrowing their nurseries and flourishing faster than expected in the distant, early universe.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023
"To walk on the roads because the path isn't safe because of all the hemlock and vegetation overgrowing, they're being put in this really difficult and unsafe position," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2023
Both animals are being used to munch overgrowing vegetation and fertilize the soil to “rewild” the landscapes.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 7, 2023
This whole countryside is a ruined waste—villages destroyed, weeds overgrowing everything; and no inhabitants except troops.
From War Letters of a Public-School Boy by Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
"If we wait, probably in three years, we will not have this landscape as we see it today," environmental activist Zenepa Lika told AFP as she stood above the overgrown channels which crisscross the site.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
“These communities are working hard to rebuild, and overgrown lots pose a real threat to that progress and to the neighbors living right next door,” Barger said in her statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
The playground is overgrown, and the modular buildings stand quiet and empty.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
For example, in the early 1990s, he and his colleagues examined standard recommendations for conserving reed beds—important habitats for birds that become overgrown with trees over time.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
The halls had the vague animal smell of damp mortar, and the grounds were overgrown with grass, bramble, and weeds.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
