noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of overlord
Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; see origin at over-, lord
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:
In comparing those statistics with those of its former colonial overlord, Hartnett, Bank of America’s chief equity strategist, found an emphatic stateside outperformance on almost all fronts.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026
"I think Your Idol is such a banger," says Kang about song the Saja Boys sing while feeding the souls of their audience to the evil overlord Gwi-Ma.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2025
It’s fairly obvious who Hawley channeled to create Prodigy’s overlord, whereas Sandra Yi Sencindiver’s Yutani fits a concept; she’s all silk tailoring and iron will.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2025
First Paul falls in love with Chani, a Fremen warrior who sees the messiah prophecy as overlord propaganda, which naturally threatens to back-burner his mom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
I can’t understand what the revolt was about Everybody knows that the King of England is their feudal overlord.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The S&P’s overlords cannot guarantee that this will continue, but they can treat as sacred the rules that give the index credibility.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Our tech overlords are planning for conscious AI to conquer the cosmos.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
The House wasn’t in session, which is often the best time to check in on staff who don’t have their overlords hanging around.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
But some of the tech moguls angling to become our AI overlords aren’t like you and me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
There then followed a hectic jurisdictional dispute between these overlords that was decided in General Dreedle’s favor by ex-P.F.C.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
