override

American  

[oh-ver-rahyd, oh-ver-rahyd] / ˌoʊ vərˈraɪd, ˈoʊ vərˌraɪd /

verb (used with object)

overrides, present (3rd person singular) overrode, past overridden, past participle overriding present participle

1. to prevail or have dominance over; have final authority or say over; overrule.

   to override one's advisers.

2. to disregard, set aside, or nullify; countermand.

   to override the board's veto.

3. to take precedence over; preempt or supersede.

   to override any other considerations.

4. to extend beyond or spread over; overlap.

5. to modify or suspend the ordinary functioning of; alter the normal operation of.

6. to ride over or across.

7. to ride past or beyond.

8. to trample or crush; ride down.

9. to ride (a horse) too much.

10. Fox Hunting. to ride too closely behind (the hounds).

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noun

overrides plural

1. a commission on sales or profits, especially one paid at the executive or managerial level.

2. budgetary or expense increase; exceeding of an estimate.

   work stoppage because of cost overrides.

3. an ability or allowance to correct, change, supplement, or suspend the operation of an otherwise automatic mechanism, system, etc.

4. an auxiliary device for such modification, as a special manual control.

5. an act of nullifying, canceling, or setting aside.

   a congressional override of the president's veto.

6. Radio and Television Slang. something that is a dominant or major facet of a program or series, especially something that serves as a unifying theme.

   an entertainment series with a historical override.

override British  

/ ˌəʊvəˈraɪd /

verb

1. to set aside or disregard with superior authority or power

2. to supersede or annul

3. to dominate or vanquish by or as if by trampling down

4. to take manual control of (a system that is usually under automatic control)

5. to extend or pass over, esp to overlap

6. to ride (a horse) too hard

7. to ride over or across

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noun

1. a device or system that can override an automatic control

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• overrides
  plural

Participles

• overriding
  present
• overridden
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• override
  simple
• overrides
  simple
• have overridden
  perfect
• has overridden
  perfect
• am overriding
  progressive
• are overriding
  progressive
• is overriding
  progressive
• have been overriding
  perfect progressive
• has been overriding
  perfect progressive

Past

• overrode
  simple
• had overridden
  perfect
• was overriding
  progressive
• were overriding
  progressive
• had been overriding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will override
  simple
• will have overridden
  perfect
• will be overriding
  progressive
• will have been overriding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of override

before 900; Middle English overriden to ride over or across, Old English oferrīdan. See over-, ride

Explanation

You can override or reject a decision if you're more powerful than the person who originally made the decision. And Congress has the power to override or nullify the Presidential veto if they have a two-thirds vote. The word override can be used in a number of contexts. You can override or ride on top of the grass. You can override a horse, or ride it too hard. An army can override or dominate the enemy in a war. And a judge can override or set aside a decision in court. Regardless of which meaning you're using, remember that the thing doing the overriding always has the upper hand.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

override overrides overrode overridden overriding

Congress failed to override the veto, and the Second Bank’s charter expired in 1836.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

The Constitution lets states set the rules for conducting congressional elections, but gives Congress the power to override those rules.

From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026

Plus, the package cleared both the House and Senate with overwhelming, veto-proof majorities, so Congress could override the president.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026

The world’s foremost party planning committee, with the cachet to override branded venue names with generic, location-based names — Los Angeles Stadium instead of SoFi Stadium — on Google and Apple maps?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

“Awesome PowerPoint! System override successful. Thank you. Have a productive day. ”

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

But according to the research of professor Richard Hasen, the rate of congressional overrides has steadily decreased over the years as Congress becomes slower and less productive with each passing term.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

He pointed to a recent landmark bill, State Senate Bill 79, which overrides local zoning laws to allow for taller, denser buildings near major transit stops.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

“Geopolitics once again overrides the macro calendar in terms of market sensitivity,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

As this is a contract between two people, it generally overrides a will.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 3, 2026

I know I shouldn’t snoop, but curiosity quickly overrides my conscience as it often does—snoop-control issues—and I’m bending down and randomly perusing some of the papers on the floor: mostly old letters.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

One study found that Congress used to overturn several opinions practically every term, including a particularly effective 1991 Congress that overrode eight Supreme Court decisions.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

However, Tesla argues that the driver manually overrode the technology.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

Last year, researchers at the UK's AI Security Institute found jailbreaks that overrode safeguards across a range of harmful requests in every AI system it tested.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

“Getting Peter Mandelson the job was a priority that overrode everything else,” said Emily Thornberry, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and a Labour lawmaker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

Johnny’s father had one passion that overrode all his other interests and kept him going through those hard years—rowing.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI software, said on X that the driver had manually overridden the system by “by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

There were "strong" powers to protect the freedom to protest, she said, but they could be overridden on the advice of the police.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025

Career officials objected to letting Musk have private income data of millions, but they were overridden.

From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2025

Were there circumstances in which the government’s zeal for secrecy could be overridden in the public interest?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2024

Their twisted boughs, stooping to the ground, were overridden by a clambering maze of old briars.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

"The overriding priority is to rescue as many people as possible while urgently providing life-saving health care to the injured," said Ciro Ugarte, emergencies director for PAHO, the UN health agency's Americas regional branch.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

The only overriding lesson may be that there are no overriding lessons.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

It’s great because she’s not overriding another judge’s order.

From Slate ● May 18, 2026

The overriding feeling among bosses was that the Home Championship would be pivotal for Scotland competing at the World Cup.

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

In the end it can be said with some degree of certainty that Prohibition failed for two overriding reasons.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

Related Words

• abrogate
• annul
• nullify
• quash
• reverse
• revoke
• veto