overrun

American  

[oh-ver-ruhn, oh-ver-ruhn] / ˌoʊ vərˈrʌn, ˈoʊ vərˌrʌn /

verb (used with object)

• overruns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overran,
  past
• overrun,
  past participle
• overrunning
  present participle

1. to rove over (a country, region, etc.); invade; ravage.

   a time when looting hordes had overrun the province.

2. to swarm over in great numbers, as animals, especially vermin; infest.

   The house had been overrun by rats.

3. to spread or grow rapidly over, as plants, especially vines, weeds, etc..

   a garden overrun with weeds.

4. to attack and defeat decisively, occupying and controlling the enemy's position; overwhelm.

5. to spread rapidly throughout, as a new idea or spirit.

   a rekindling of scholarship that had overrun Europe.

6. to run or go beyond, as a certain limit.

   The new jet overran the landing field.

7. to exceed, as a budget or estimate.

   to overrun one's allotted time.

8. to run over; overflow.

   During the flood season, the river overruns its banks for several miles.

9. Printing.

   1. to print additional copies of (a book, pamphlet, etc.) in excess of the original or the usual order.

   2. to carry over (type or words) to another page.

10. Nautical.

    1. to sail past (an intended stopping or turning point) by accident.

    2. (of a ship) to complete (a schedule of calls) more rapidly than anticipated.

11. to outrun; overtake in running.

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verb (used without object)

• overruns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• overran,
  past
• overrun,
  past participle
• overrunning
  present participle

1. to run over; overflow.

   a stream that always overruns at springtime.

2. to exceed the proper, desired, or normal quantity, limit, order, etc..

   Do you want to overrun on this next issue?

noun

• overruns
  plural

1. an act or instance of overrunning.

2. an amount in excess; surplus.

   an overrun of 10,000 copies of a new book.

3. the exceeding of estimated costs in design, development, and production, especially as estimated in a contract.

   a staggering overrun on the new fighter plane.

4. the amount exceeded.

   an overrun of $500,000 for each fighter plane.

5. a run on an item of manufacture beyond the quantity ordered by a customer and often offered at a discount.

6. the amount by which the volume of a food, as butter or ice cream, is increased above the original volume by the inclusion of air, water, or another substance.

   With only a 20 percent overrun, this is an excellent ice cream.

overrun British  

verb

1. (tr) to attack or invade and defeat conclusively

2. (tr) to swarm or spread over rapidly

3. to run over (something); overflow

4. to extend or run beyond a limit

5. (intr) (of an engine) to run with a closed throttle at a speed dictated by that of the vehicle it drives, as on a decline

6. (tr)

   1. to print (a book, journal, etc) in a greater quantity than ordered

   2. to print additional copies of (a publication)

7. (tr) printing to transfer (set type and other matter) from one column, line, or page, to another

8. archaic (tr) to run faster than

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noun

1. the act or an instance of overrunning

2. the amount or extent of overrunning

3. the number of copies of a publication in excess of the quantity ordered

4. the cleared level area at the end of an airport runway

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• overruns
  plural

Participles

• overrunning
  present
• overrun
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• overrun
  simple
• overruns
  simple
• have overrun
  perfect
• has overrun
  perfect
• am overrunning
  progressive
• are overrunning
  progressive
• is overrunning
  progressive
• have been overrunning
  perfect progressive
• has been overrunning
  perfect progressive

Past

• overran
  simple
• had overrun
  perfect
• was overrunning
  progressive
• were overrunning
  progressive
• had been overrunning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will overrun
  simple
• will have overrun
  perfect
• will be overrunning
  progressive
• will have been overrunning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of overrun

First recorded before 900; Middle English overrennen, Old English oferyrnan; see over-, run

Explanation

Overrun means being populated in huge numbers or occupied in some way. Your beautiful beach town may be peaceful in the winter but overrun by tourists every summer. You can use this verb for a successful invading army: "The troops managed to overrun the entire peninsula, reclaiming the land they'd lost." It's also good for other kinds of invasions and infestations: "They closed my dog's daycare because it was overrun by fleas." The earliest meaning, still used today, was "continue beyond a specified time," like the class that overruns by fifteen minutes, making you very late to third-period math.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overrun overruns overran overrunning

But for the signs in Albanian, we could have been on the Amalfi Coast, or the Côte d’Azur, except that it has not yet been overrun with bachelorettes and party buses.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

Miami’s Runway 30 has a safety buffer but not an Engineering Materials Arresting System, a crushable bed designed to stop aircraft that overrun runways.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The LCD screens outside the Denver Nuggets basketball arena continue to flicker, although weeds and wolves have overrun the fast-food joints in a bit of postapocalyptic product placement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Ali Munif, 46, has been living in a displacement camp on the outskirts of Marib city since his village was overrun by the rebels in 2021.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

The pond is overrun with bullfrogs that croak all night long.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

Then owned by Toshiba, it incurred billions of dollars in cost overruns related to the planned construction of four nuclear reactors in the southeastern U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

However, that same day the Bosnian Serb army led by Mladic overruns Srebrenica, causing tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the Dutch force's compound at Potocari on the hilly town's outskirts.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

The German navy's troubled F-126 programme was previously handled by Dutch shipbuilder Damen, but had faced years of delays, setbacks and cost overruns.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote went “through hell” building a $20 billion oil refinery that was plagued by a decade of delays and cost overruns that doubled the tab for the project.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

The previous year, he had assumed command of construction of the Pentagon, then beleaguered by labor problems, material shortages, cost overruns, and miserable work conditions.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

We’ve issued a full ground stop at Miami International while first responders assess the scene after an Amazon cargo plane overran the runway.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026

A Boeing 767-300 cargo plane was landing in Miami after departing from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Sunday when it overran the runway and crashed.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

Yemeni brothers Yunes, 33, and Yassin, 24, say they fled Houthi rebels in 2023, after they overran their country's capital eight years earlier.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

The North Vietnamese Communist offensive overran the South, sending more than a million “boat people” into the open ocean.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

While certain insects overran us, some of the other normal inhabitants of our property, such as earthworms, disappeared.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Mr. Ellis takes as a case study the overrunning and removal of the Creek Indians in Georgia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025

Or are we too far gone to prevent rats from overrunning our cities?

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

With many missions overrunning their budgets, the agency has proposed dramatic changes.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 11, 2024

Footage seemingly shot by a worker showed a huge mass of earth rushing down a gully, overrunning everything in its path.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024

One tiny mouse an invader overrunning the whole school all by himself?

From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary

Related Words

• beset
• choke
• deluge
• inundate
• invade
• overflow
• overwhelm
• ravage