overground

overground adjective: above the ground. Also the simple past and past participle of overgrind.

Adjective

overground (not comparable)

Above the ground.
- an overground railway
- Colour-light signals, for both day and night work, came into use at a much later date, and their first use on any scale in this country was on the London underground railways, where the principle adopted was largely American in origin. But although light signalling is credited to America, one of...1955 April, R. H. Warring, “Some Early Railway Signals”, in Railway Magazine, pages 231-232
Synonyms:

aboveground, superterranean

Antonyms:

underground
Mainstream, not underground.
- They have plans to carry overground books on gay liberation, and a lot of books from small presses.1974 April 6, “H.C.H.S. Bookstore”, in Gay Community News, page 1

overground (plural overgrounds)

(London) A commuter rail or similar rail transport system, or a train in such systems, generally running through an urban area largely above ground and faster than an underground or metro with fewer stops.
- The overground is ten minutes walk through the gloom. Anna finds a seat in the third carriage she tries.2013, Tobias Hill, The Cryptographer
- Today dozens more systems are being built – or at least being planned with twelve in China alone – and that's not counting the overgrounds and the tramways!2014, Nicholas Faith, The World the Railways Made

the Overground

The London Overground, a counterpart of London Underground operated by TfL (Transport for London), which operates some of the various lines around London which are mainly above ground.
- Yes, it was rather bizarre to make a former underground line into part of a network called London Overground, and at Whitechapel the Overground goes under the Underground. But let's not spoil our happy ending for the East London Line.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 94

overground is also the simple past and past participle of overgrind.

We have been concentrating on the City because that was the initial target for builders of both overground and underground railways, who were like artists going over and over the same piece of canvas.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 57:
TfL has released an official map showing how the new Elizabeth Line will slot in with the existing stations, Tube lines and overgrounds.2022 May 19, Lucy Aplin, “New Tube map: How the London Underground map looks with the Elizabeth Line ahead of Crossrail opening”, in i:

plural	overgrounds

From over- + ground.

From overground, in contrast to the Underground.

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does overground mean?: Overground means above the ground.
How do you use overground in a sentence?: We have been concentrating on the City because that was the initial target for builders of both overground and underground railways, who were like artists going over and over the same piece of canvas.
What part of speech is overground?: Overground can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: overground (page history and authors); Overground (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “overground.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overground. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.