superimpose
Americanverb (used with object)
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superimposes,
present (3rd person singular)
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superimposed,
past participle, past
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superimposing
present participle
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to impose, place, or set over, above, or on something else.
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to put or join as an addition (usually followed by on orupon ).
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to display or print (an image or text) over another image so that both are visible at once.
You can superimpose open captions on your videos with this free software.
verb
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to set or place on or over something else
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to add (to)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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superimposesimple
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superimposessimple
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have superimposedperfect
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has superimposedperfect
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am superimposingprogressive
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are superimposingprogressive
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is superimposingprogressive
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have been superimposingperfect progressive
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has been superimposingperfect progressive
Past
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superimposedsimple
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had superimposedperfect
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was superimposingprogressive
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were superimposingprogressive
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had been superimposingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of superimpose
Explanation
Superimpose means laying one thing on top of another. It's often used to describe images in a photo collage — like the superimposed image of a skyscraper on the surface of the moon. The verb superimpose is typically used in graphics or photography to describe how images can be put on top of one another for dramatic effect. Use it also to show adding your own take on something, or when you try to have an impact on someone's behavior: "She tried to superimpose her ideas of perfection onto the lazy habits of her children."
Vocabulary lists containing superimpose
Power Prefix: super-
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"What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?" Vocabulary from the short story
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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:
It is premature to entirely superimpose Tesla’s trading patterns on SpaceX, but that is exactly what many seasoned investors are referencing as the SpaceX options market develops.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
The agency “did not want to intervene and superimpose last-minute, unvetted judgment into the process, as this could have been perceived as manipulating the data,” it said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
Through a feature called “Cameos,” users can superimpose their face or a friend’s face into any existing video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2025
"Then we ask: Are there perturbations, or tiny changes in the flow of plasma, that we could superimpose on top of this average structure, that might grow to cause the sun's magnetic field?"
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024
At the right altitude, he could almost superimpose the luminous map on his visor over the actual Dublin streets below him.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
Kylian Mbappe has criticised a viral meme which superimposes his face on the body of a dictator, saying it shows "a lack of political and human awareness".
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
The most elucidating superimposes a Pietà by Anne-Louis Girodet, David’s little-known pupil, over David’s “Marat.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
In the meantime, I have assembled a small library of eclipse books and magazines, including a road atlas that superimposes the 2024 path of totality onto a detailed map of the U.S.,
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2024
A $25 coffee cup for sale on the site features his mugshot and his inmate number: P01135809, another superimposes his mugshot over a list of the criminal charges he now faces in four separate cases.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 25, 2023
Upon this foundation he superimposes a structure of audacity.
From The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis
The Hollingsworths are helpfully introduced with superimposed titles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
The majority of the film’s narrative is communicated through on-screen text — translations of archival material, superimposed in English over their original printed matter.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
The team has seen so many certificates that it knows what to look for: fonts; inconsistent margins; the right official’s signature; a superimposed name of a student.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
"They are mirror images of each other, but you need a different glove for each. If you had two left-handed gloves, it wouldn't work because your hands can't be superimposed on top of one another."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026
All these things—the flags, the pitch pipe songs, the British Empire and the princesses, the war orphans, even the strappings —are superimposed against the ominous navy-blue background of Miss Lumley’s invisible bloomers.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Google has launched a new AI tool which allows people to create fake images by superimposing almost anything on top of its own widely-used satellite imagery.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
"Others appear to be an image manipulated manually, often by superimposing indicators of damage or another change on a satellite image that had no such details to begin with," he said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026
That choice allowed star David Corenswet to react in real time to his filmed environment, rather than shooting him before a blue screen and later superimposing him over footage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025
Hence, Shirley’s Central American vacation video generated many versions of a meme superimposing his image on stills from the show’s prison arc.
From Salon ● May 7, 2025
It may then be done by placing the writing to be forged upon a transparency over a strong light, and then superimposing the paper upon which the forgery is to be made.
From Disputed Handwriting An exhaustive, valuable, and comprehensive work upon one of the most important subjects of to-day. With illustrations and expositions for the detection and study of forgery by handwriting of all kinds by Jerome Buell Lavay
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.
