overtake
verb (used with object)
to catch up with in traveling or pursuit; draw even with.
were overtaking
-
past progressiveof overtake.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
A 1986 study by the county Department of Mental Health found that Black people were overtaking whites and Latinos among homeless people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025
She believed that the only way for her characters to overcome the horrible circumstances that had befallen them was to band together and fight the giant corporate farms that were overtaking the agricultural industry.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2024
She experienced "a feeling of falling, and then as though something were overtaking me, body and soul, followed by this tremendous, luminous, uplifting whiteout pulling me right out of my body".
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2021
I phoned her about a year after 9/11, when my daddy duties as the father of two young girls were overtaking my free time.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2016
The rain and wind were overtaking her, rubbing away the details of her legs; the sun was bleaching her hooves into faint outlines, merging into the cliff.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
