overrun
Americanverb (used with object)
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to rove over (a country, region, etc.); invade; ravage.
a time when looting hordes had overrun the province.
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to swarm over in great numbers, as animals, especially vermin; infest.
The house had been overrun by rats.
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to spread or grow rapidly over, as plants, especially vines, weeds, etc..
a garden overrun with weeds.
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to attack and defeat decisively, occupying and controlling the enemy's position; overwhelm.
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to spread rapidly throughout, as a new idea or spirit.
a rekindling of scholarship that had overrun Europe.
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to run or go beyond, as a certain limit.
The new jet overran the landing field.
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to exceed, as a budget or estimate.
to overrun one's allotted time.
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to run over; overflow.
During the flood season, the river overruns its banks for several miles.
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Printing.
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to print additional copies of (a book, pamphlet, etc.) in excess of the original or the usual order.
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to carry over (type or words) to another page.
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Nautical.
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to sail past (an intended stopping or turning point) by accident.
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(of a ship) to complete (a schedule of calls) more rapidly than anticipated.
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to outrun; overtake in running.
verb (used without object)
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to run over; overflow.
a stream that always overruns at springtime.
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to exceed the proper, desired, or normal quantity, limit, order, etc..
Do you want to overrun on this next issue?
noun
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an act or instance of overrunning.
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an amount in excess; surplus.
an overrun of 10,000 copies of a new book.
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the exceeding of estimated costs in design, development, and production, especially as estimated in a contract.
a staggering overrun on the new fighter plane.
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the amount exceeded.
an overrun of $500,000 for each fighter plane.
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a run on an item of manufacture beyond the quantity ordered by a customer and often offered at a discount.
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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.
verb
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(tr) to attack or invade and defeat conclusively
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(tr) to swarm or spread over rapidly
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to run over (something); overflow
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to extend or run beyond a limit
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(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
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(tr)
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to print (a book, journal, etc) in a greater quantity than ordered
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to print additional copies of (a publication)
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(tr) printing to transfer (set type and other matter) from one column, line, or page, to another
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archaic (tr) to run faster than
noun
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the act or an instance of overrunning
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the amount or extent of overrunning
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the number of copies of a publication in excess of the quantity ordered
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the cleared level area at the end of an airport runway
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overrunsimple
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overrunssimple
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have overrunperfect
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has overrunperfect
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am overrunningprogressive
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are overrunningprogressive
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is overrunningprogressive
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have been overrunningperfect progressive
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has been overrunningperfect progressive
Past
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overransimple
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had overrunperfect
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was overrunningprogressive
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were overrunningprogressive
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had been overrunningperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing overrun
Background on Pearl Harbor
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Unit 5, Week 5
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: over-
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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 miner expects another cost overrun on a Canadian mine that is set to become one of the biggest sources of the fertilizer ingredient globally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
England were also without captain Williamson, a dent in an overrun backline, while Wiegman opted for Ella Toone over Lucia Kendall, despite the Manchester United midfielder only just returning from a four-month injury lay-off.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
It was brought in to balance out the highly cyclical sales and earnings from chips, but now that segment is getting overrun by AI chip sales.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
Botterell questioned that recommendation, noting that such an admission about needing someone not consumed by command decisions implied the command team was overrun.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
“But I’m afraid in 1766 there was no theatre here at all, only a cobblestoned street overrun with pigs and bales of hay. We weren’t built for another fifty-five years!”
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
Two brand-new Boeing Air Force Ones are due to be delivered later this decade after a series of delays and cost overruns.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Softening demand for some types of chips, shortages of technical workers and cost overruns have slowed construction at some semiconductor factories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Defence procurement has historically been a source of major budget overruns for the MoD.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
The project, unveiled in 2021, had run into environmental objections, cost overruns and a lack of buyers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 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
US broadcaster Fox US overran adverts, external during a hydration break in the opening match of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
Then, when Nazi Germany overran Denmark, Danish diplomats asked Washington to secure Greenland, which became a valuable refueling station for bombers and a source of minerals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 24, 2026
The pair arrived in the country just months before the Yom Kippur war in 1973, when a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria overran Israel’s front line.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
Mapping from FireGuard, reviewed months after the fire, showed it did track the fire’s steady progression west for several hours before flames overran west Altadena — and well before the evacuation alerts went out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
In Old Goblinish, it was a lament sung by the hero Walgund in the days following the destruction of his city by King Degravaunt of the Elves, when the elfin armies overran the forests.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Seve has let the detritus of life pile up around him — literally — with delivery packages and plastic-wrapped clothes overrunning his tiny Baltimore apartment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
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
“I was on a couple hours ago with the Wildwood mayor, and he said we had a fantastic weekend, we happened to have this overrunning of, it sounds like, a bunch of teenagers.”
From Seattle Times ● May 29, 2024
With many missions overrunning their budgets, the agency has proposed dramatic changes.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 11, 2024
One tiny mouse an invader overrunning the whole school all by himself?
From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary
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.
