surmount
[ser-mount]
- to mount upon; get on the top of; mount upon and cross over: to surmount a hill.
- to get over or across (barriers, obstacles, etc.).
- to prevail over: to surmount tremendous difficulties.
- to be on top of or above: a statue surmounting a pillar.
- to furnish with something placed on top or above: to surmount a tower with a spire.
- Obsolete.
- to surpass in excellence.
- to exceed in amount.
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Origin of surmount
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for surmountable
Contemporary Examples of surmountable
Either one of these alone is surmountable for a skilled and ambitious politician.
Historical Examples of surmountable
In the mass they are appalling but singly they are surmountable.
A Daughter of the Middle BorderHamlin Garland
Listen, then, to the difficulties that beset us, and say if they are surmountable.
Rather on the north-west side, the hill is surmountable by a zig-zag path, up which a loaded mule can climb with some difficulty.
An Old Sailor's YarnsNathaniel Ames
Once at least within historic memory the barrier of the Caucasus had proved to be surmountable.
Insurmountable, in-sur-mownt′a-bl, adj. not surmountable: that cannot be overcome.
surmount
- to prevail over; overcometo surmount tremendous difficulties
- to ascend and cross to the opposite side of
- to lie on top of or rise above
- to put something on top of or above
- obsolete to surpass or exceed
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Word Origin for surmount
C14: from Old French surmonter, from sur- 1 + monter to mount 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for surmountable
surmount
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper