overcast
Americanadjective
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overspread or covered with clouds; cloudy.
an overcast day.
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Meteorology. (of the sky) more than 95 percent covered by clouds.
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dark; gloomy.
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Sewing. sewn by overcasting.
verb (used with object)
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to overcloud, darken, or make gloomy.
Ominous clouds began to overcast the sky.
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to sew with stitches passing successively over an edge, especially long stitches set at intervals to prevent raveling.
verb (used without object)
noun
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Meteorology. the condition of the sky when more than 95 percent covered by clouds.
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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.
adjective
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covered over or obscured, esp by clouds
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meteorol (of the sky) more than 95 per cent cloud-covered
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gloomy or melancholy
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sewn over by overcasting
verb
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to make or become overclouded or gloomy
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to sew (an edge, as of a hem) with long stitches passing successively over the edge
noun
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a covering, as of clouds or mist
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meteorol the state of the sky when more than 95 per cent of it is cloud-covered
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mining a crossing of two passages without an intersection
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overcastsimple
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overcastssimple
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have overcastperfect
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has overcastperfect
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am overcastingprogressive
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are overcastingprogressive
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is overcastingprogressive
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have been overcastingperfect progressive
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has been overcastingperfect progressive
Past
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overcastsimple
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had overcastperfect
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was overcastingprogressive
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were overcastingprogressive
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had been overcastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overcast
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."
Vocabulary lists containing overcast
"Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe
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4.1: Causes and Consequences of Iberian Maritime Exploration and Colonialism (Sources 1–12)
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Lights Out: Synonyms for "Dark"
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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:
The warmest the Three Lions have played in was 25C for the final group game against Panama, but that featured overcast skies.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
It was a cool, overcast day and as the wind rustled the tree leaves, a baby coyote raced across the lawn in the distance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
On overcast days, when the sun was hidden, pigeons that lacked the macrophages lost their sense of direction and had difficulty navigating home.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
It was a bitterly cold, overcast winter day when China’s senior-most general left for a meeting with hundreds of high-ranking Communist Party officials, including their leader, Xi Jinping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Unfortunately, soon enough clouds blocked the sun, causing the day to grow more and more overcast as the morning moved on.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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
Good Heavens, my dear, how deeply is your father still immersed in material things! how dense is his understanding, and what gloom overcasts his soul!
From The Pretentious Young Ladies by Molière
When every drop of blood in the veins is pure a beauteous flush overcasts the young girl's cheek.
From Right Living as a Fine Art A Study of Channing's Symphony as an Outline of the Ideal Life and Character by Hillis, Newell Dwight
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 Flower, B. O. (Benjamin Orange)
John Goodman can do the oaky solidity, but perhaps might be overcasting.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 29, 2012
She saw, however, the concern overcasting the features of all of them—except Mathilde—and she now mastered herself entirely, though the tremor remained, very deep down within her.
From Dr. Adriaan by Couperus, Louis
There are also some good library binders who use no bands when overcasting and who sew all other books on tapes.
From Library Bookbinding by Bailey, Arthur Low
This overcasting is done by inserting a fine needle near the back of the knocked-up sheets from above and drawing the thread almost quite through, the second and following stitches all being made from above.
From Practical Bookbinding by Adam, Paul
It was much more exciting than overcasting seams.
From Peggy in Her Blue Frock by Preston, Alice B.
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.
