overshadow
UK/ˌəʊ.vəˈʃæd.əʊ//ˌoʊ.vɚˈʃæd.oʊ/
overshadow verb: to obscure something by casting a shadow.
Verb
overshadow (third-person singular simple present overshadows, present participle overshadowing, simple past and past participle overshadowed)
- To obscure something by casting a shadow.
- While he thus ſpake, there came a cloud, and ouerſhadowed them, ⁊ they feared, as they entred into the cloude.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 9:34
- To dominate something and make it seem insignificant.
- A branch of rail transport that seems to been rather neglected by historians is that concerned with cliff railways, of which a fair number exist in Great Britain. This is probably because these lines are overshadowed by the more spectacular funicular railways in Switzerland and other mountainous...1951 August, P. W. Gentry, “Cliff Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 514
- This is itself a cheerless spot, particularly on a rainy day, when, overshadowed by the great massif of rock that towers in the background, and surrounded by the grey and cheerless quarries, it has a depressing character much in contrast with the green verdure encountered on the northern end of...1954 August, H. M. Madgwick, “The Blaenau Festiniog Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 569
- To shelter or protect.
overshadow meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
overshadow in Urdu
- چھا جانا, ماند کرنا, طاری ہونا
overshadow in Bengali
- ম্লান করে দেওয়া, ছায়াচ্ছন্ন করা
overshadow in Malayalam
- shade, cast a shadow over, darken
- നിഴലിലാക്കുക, നിഴൽവീഴ്ത്തുക, തണൽവീഴ്ത്തുക, കരിനിഴൽവീഴ്ത്തുക, കരിനിഴലിലാക്കുക, വെളിച്ചത്തിൽനിന്നു മറയ്ക്കുക
- blight, cast gloom over, take the edge off
- മ്ലാനമാക്കുക, വിഷണ്ണമാക്കുക, ആകുലതയുണ്ടാക്കുക, വാട്ടമുണ്ടാക്കുക, ശോഭകെടുത്തുക, നശിപ്പിക്കുക
- surpass, outshine, eclipse
- മറ്റുള്ളവരെക്കാൾ ശോഭിക്കുക, കൂടുതൽ തിളങ്ങുക, നിഷ്പ്രഭമാക്കുക, കവച്ചുവയ്ക്കുക, മികച്ചുനിൽക്കുക, അധഃകരിക്കുക
overshadow in Kannada
- ಕತ್ತಲಿಸು, ನೆಳಲು ಬೀಳಿಸು, ಮರೆಮಾಡು, ಮರೆಸು, ಮಬ್ಬುಗವಿಸು, ಕಾಂತಿಹೀನಗೊಳಿಸು
More languagesFewer languages
- overshadow in Arabic
- غَطَّى ḡaṭṭā
Examples of overshadow in a sentence
- A grim castle overshadowed the village.
- “But then that was overshadowed by all the dress-coding.” Principal Pickford cut in.
- Accurate diagnosis is often complicated due to two factors: diagnostic overshadowing and challenging behaviors.
Synonyms of overshadow
Forms of overshadow
| third-person singular present | overshadows |
|---|---|
| present participle | overshadowing |
| past participle | overshadowed |
| past | overshadowed |
Origin of overshadow
From Middle English overschadwen, overschadewe, from Old English ofersċeadwian (“to overshadow”), equivalent to over- + shadow. Compare with West Frisian oerskaduwe (“to overshadow”), Dutch overschaduwen (“to overshadow”), German überschatten (“to overshadow”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ufarskadwjan, “to overshadow”), and more distantly, Old Norse yfirskyggja (“to overshadow”), Danish overskygge (“to overshadow”), Swedish överskugga (“to overshadow”), Old English ofersċūwan (“to overshadow”).
Words formed from overshadow
Words that rhyme with overshadow
Questions about overshadow
- What does overshadow mean?
- Overshadow means to obscure something by casting a shadow.
- What is overshadow in Urdu?
- Overshadow in Urdu is چھا جانا, ماند کرنا, طاری ہونا. See Overshadow meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is overshadow?
- Overshadow is a verb.
- How do you pronounce overshadow?
- Overshadow is pronounced /ˌəʊ.vəˈʃæd.əʊ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of overshadow?
- The past tense of overshadow is overshadowed.
Words near overshadow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: overshadow (page history and authors); overshadow (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Overshadow (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); overshadow (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); overshadow (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-overshadow.ogg, en-au-overshadow.ogg.
Cite this entry: “overshadow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overshadow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.