Library / English Dictionary

OVERCOME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: overcame   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Overcome, usually through no fault or weakness of the person that is overcome

Example:

Heart disease can get the best of us

Synonyms:

get the best; have the best; overcome

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "overcome" is one way to...):

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to overcome his opponent

Sense 2

Meaning:

Win a victory over

Example:

Her anger got the better of her and she blew up

Synonyms:

defeat; get the better of; overcome

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overcome"):

come through; make it; pull round; pull through; survive (continue in existence after (an adversity, etc.))

conquer (overcome by conquest)

nose (defeat by a narrow margin)

upset (defeat suddenly and unexpectedly)

expel; rout; rout out (cause to flee)

lurch; skunk (defeat by a lurch)

overrun (seize the position of and defeat)

down (bring down or defeat (an opponent))

wallop (defeat soundly and utterly)

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

demolish; destroy (defeat soundly and humiliatingly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to overcome his opponent

Derivation:

overcomer (someone who overcomes and establishes ascendancy and control by force or persuasion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Get on top of; deal with successfully

Example:

He overcame his shyness

Synonyms:

get over; master; overcome; subdue; surmount

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "overcome" is one way to...):

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overcome"):

bulldog (throw a steer by seizing the horns and twisting the neck, as in a rodeo)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli

Synonyms:

overcome; overpower; overtake; overwhelm; sweep over; whelm

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "overcome" is one way to...):

arouse; elicit; enkindle; evoke; fire; kindle; provoke; raise (call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overcome"):

devastate (overwhelm or overpower)

clutch; get hold of; seize (affect)

kill (overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration)

benight (overtake with darkness or night)

knock out (overwhelm with admiration)

stagger (astound or overwhelm, as with shock)

lock (hold fast (in a certain state))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

“But you can’t mean it!” I cried out, overcome with the horror of it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"Yes, I did!" and Meg hid her face again, overcome with shame.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Mr. Brocklehurst again paused—perhaps overcome by his feelings.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Oh! cried Elizabeth, I have been rather too much used to the game to be soon overcome by a gentleman's hints.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A little difficulty to be overcome was no evil to Henry Crawford.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Dora was overcome by grief; and when her friend had asked her should she send her love to me, had only cried, as she was always crying, “Oh, dear papa! oh, poor papa!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Each in his own way was solemn and overcome.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This can increase the tissue range of infection or allow the virus to overcome drugs which block virus entry.

(Co-Receptor Switching, NCI Thesaurus)

In addition, cyclodextrin-based polymer-camptothecin may be able to overcome certain kinds of multidrug resistance.

(Cyclodextrin-Based Polymer-Camptothecin CRLX101, NCI Thesaurus)

Then, overcome by fatigue, I lay down among some straw and fell asleep.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)