overwrite
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overwrites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overwrote,
past
-
overwritten,
past participle
-
overwriting
present participle
-
to write in too elaborate, burdensome, diffuse, or prolix a style.
He overwrites his essays to the point of absurdity.
-
to write in excess of the requirements, especially so as to defeat the original intention.
That young playwright tends to overwrite her big scenes.
-
to write on or over; cover with writing.
a flyleaf overwritten with a dedication.
verb (used without object)
-
overwrites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overwrote,
past
-
overwritten,
past participle
-
overwriting
present participle
verb
-
to write (something) in an excessively ornate or prolix style
-
to write too much about (someone or something)
-
to write on top of (other writing)
-
to record on a storage medium, such as a magnetic disk, thus destroying what was originally recorded there
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overwritesimple
-
overwritessimple
-
have overwrittenperfect
-
has overwrittenperfect
-
am overwritingprogressive
-
are overwritingprogressive
-
is overwritingprogressive
-
have been overwritingperfect progressive
-
has been overwritingperfect progressive
Past
-
overwrotesimple
-
had overwrittenperfect
-
was overwritingprogressive
-
were overwritingprogressive
-
had been overwritingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overwrite
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:
"What we've tried to do is respect those tunes and not overwrite them, the melodies stay central, but they're presented differently. That sense of respect is something people really seem to respond to," Coyle explained.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026
Depending on the rules you’ve set for yourself, this might be the moment for a small, intentional grocery shop: a handful of items meant to support what’s already in your kitchen, not overwrite it.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026
“Celebrities do not get to overwrite small-business names just because they are famous,” John Hoover told TMZ.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2025
A charger sold in the UK by Project EV allowed researchers to overwrite its firmware.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 13, 2023
This will overwrite the Unix system's old temprc file.
From Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet by Electronic Frontier Foundation
That is, until another party overwrites his code, transforming him into the best reason for “Romulus” to exist.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2025
The hive-mind of our writers’ room and cast: a back-and-forth that writes and overwrites the characters and their choices, enriching the psychological stock of the soup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
The malware in this case overwrites the “master boot record,” or the portion of the hard drive without which the operating system will not work.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2022
It overwrites their personhood, their lived experience, the degree to which they wish to be medicated.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2020
Regardless of the level of language acquired, language overwrites the senses.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin
He waxed poetic when it didn’t help his prose and overwrote shamelessly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
Anonymous: So powerful, thank you, that one selfless gesture overwrote an entire relationship.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2022
A 2012 attack that American officials attributed to Iran overwrote the hard drives of the Saudi state oil company Aramco with the image of a burning American flag.
From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2020
Therefore, in certain circumstances, it accidentally overwrote some adjacent memory it wasn’t supposed to be using.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2017
"Will I blow all of this money baby/ Hammertime?" he wonders, much like Kanye West used to, before West's ego overwrote his more appealing insecurities.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 9, 2011
Old conclusions and beliefs are constantly being overwritten as new evidence comes to light.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
In his latest book, “Other Rivers,” Peter Hessler observes that in China, memory is often physically overwritten by the mechanics of development.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
After queuing, Southern said her mum was told by staff they could not find her booking and discovered her travel agents had "overwritten" it.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026
Delegated lines of authority are muddied, overwritten by social contracts among agency leaders, and operations suffer huge bottlenecks because no one—often not even the political appointees—knows if they have the authority to make decisions.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2025
“It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.”
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Instead of overwriting the building’s industrial character, he retained exposed trusses, concrete floors and vast, column-free volumes, ideal for contemporary art.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
But such powerful dramas can have a habit of overwriting history - and Sheen’s performance could change forever how Prince Andrew will be remembered.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024
Not only that, Povich adds, there's no unplugging or overwriting what Murdoch's done.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2022
The overwriting in this novel only rarely bothered me.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2021
Because of this overwriting feature, logs were available to Finnell only for the relatively short period from October 1, 2001 to October 3, 2001.
From Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Ruling by United States District Court For The Eastern District Of Pennsylvania
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.
