overtake
Americanverb (used with object)
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overtakes,
present (3rd person singular)
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overtook,
past
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overtaken,
past participle
-
overtaking
present participle
-
to catch up with in traveling or pursuit; draw even with.
By taking a cab to the next town, we managed to overtake and board the train.
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to catch up with and pass, as in a race; move by.
He overtook the leader three laps from the finish.
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to move ahead of in achievement, production, score, etc.; surpass.
to overtake all other countries in steel production.
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to happen to or befall someone suddenly or unexpectedly, as night, a storm, or death.
The pounding rainstorm overtook them just outside the city.
verb (used without object)
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overtakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overtook,
past
-
overtaken,
past participle
-
overtaking
present participle
verb
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to move past (another vehicle or person) travelling in the same direction
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(tr) to pass or do better than, after catching up with
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(tr) to come upon suddenly or unexpectedly
night overtook him
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(tr) to catch up with; draw level with
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overtakesimple
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overtakessimple
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have overtakenperfect
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has overtakenperfect
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am overtakingprogressive
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are overtakingprogressive
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is overtakingprogressive
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have been overtakingperfect progressive
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has been overtakingperfect progressive
Past
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overtooksimple
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had overtakenperfect
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was overtakingprogressive
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were overtakingprogressive
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had been overtakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overtake
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English overtaken; see over-, take
Vocabulary lists containing overtake
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:
Is there a chance someone might overtake it, if only for a moment?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
The Ministry of Justice has warned the prison population will overtake capacity as soon as this November.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Now, Pogacar is in prime position to overtake all of them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Aimée thinks that Millennials in particular have so much nostalgia for catalogs because they were the generation that witnessed e-commerce overtake mail order.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Taran strove to overtake her and seize the hanging bridle, but the roan sped onward to the ravine.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
I do not think Qualcomm overtakes Nvidia on raw AI performance — but it does not have to.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
Last year's 78-lap race had just four overtakes in total.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
But when market speculation overtakes a stock’s actual fundamentals, the risks of a sharp—and painful—stock reversal become even greater.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
“I speculate it will be a while—if ever—before Amazon overtakes Walmart in retailing,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
It overtakes you literally by degrees as your body temperature falls and your natural responses grow sluggish and disordered.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
In 2021, China overtook the U.S. as the world’s top blueberry grower, and by 2025 its annual production was double what it was in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Cloudflare, an internet-infrastructure company that provides web security and bot-detection tools to millions of websites, says bots overtook humans on its network in June, generating 57% of all traffic it sees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
On the way to the waterfall, the family travelled in a bus with two other British families, but as the driver overtook another vehicle he "lost control and went downhill".
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
At times, the music overtook the gallery, completely captivating the attention of the room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
He had just begun to run once more when a rabbit overtook him.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Six months into the war, the supply crunch for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline has overtaken upheaval in the crude-oil market as the energy industry’s primary concern.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
It was overtaken by “Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s” $360 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
The seven-time champion got ahead of Verstappen in the first pit stops - only to be overtaken again the next time around, the Dutchman making a brilliant move at Turn One that caught Hamilton napping.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Now it has been overtaken globally by China’s BYD—which began, duh, as a battery company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
But the quiet was gradually being overtaken by sounds not heard around there for many months.
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
Norris was able to recover only to third around the new Madring track in Madrid where overtaking is next to impossible.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The difficulty in overtaking is what makes this a real opportunity for Norris to take a third win of the season, even if the McLaren is not the fastest car.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
And overtaking is expected to be difficult - again, like Zandvoort, or even Hungary.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The Dutchman briefly took the lead from Russell on lap 11, before the Briton re-passed him three laps later, Antonelli overtaking the Red Bull into the second chicane.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
I watch her go, feeling excitement overtaking the doubt sitting heavy in the pit of my stomach.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
