overcome
To surmount; to prevail over, to get the better ofTo surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.
Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» She helped him overcome his sadness.
Sie half ihm dabei, seine Traurigkeit zu bezwingen. — Zaghawa
Вона допомогла йому здолати смуток. — marko
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
6 senses(transitive)To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.
überwinden, bewältigen
преодолева́тьpreodolevátʹ, преодоле́тьpreodolétʹ
дола́тиdoláty, подола́тиpodoláty
(intransitive)To prevail.
(transitive)To recover from (a difficulty), to get over.
win a victory over
(transitive)To win against or prevail over in some sort of battle, contest, etc.
to overcome enemies in battle
To come or pass over; to spread over.
I was overcome with anger.
(obsolete)To overflow; to surcharge.
Examples
355 sentencesShe helped him overcome his sadness.
Вона допомогла йому здолати смуток. — marko
deSie half ihm dabei, seine Traurigkeit zu bezwingen. — Zaghawa
He couldn't overcome the desire for another cigarette.
Він не міг побороти бажання викурити ще одну сигарету. — ChickenKiev
Tom was suddenly overcome by fear.
How will we overcome these problems?
Tom was overcome with self-doubt.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Inherited from Middle English overcomen, inherited from Old English ofercuman (“to overcomInherited from Middle English overcomen, inherited from Old English ofercuman (“to overcome, subdue, compel, conquer, obtain, attain, reach, overtake”). By surface analysis, over- + come. Cognate with Dutch overkomen, German überkommen, Danish overkomme, Swedish överkomma.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
overcomes, overcoming, overcame, overcomeSynonyms
15 synonyms- get on top of; deal with successfully:get oversubduesurmountmaster
- win a victory over:get the better ofdefeat
- overcome, usually through no fault or weakness of the person that is overcome:get the besthave the best
- overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli:overwhelmoverpowersweep overwhelmovertake
Word family
4 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.