Word.ws English Dictionary

overspeed

Syllables: over·speedUK/ˌəʊ.vəˈspiːd/US/ˈoʊ.vɚˌspid/

overspeed verb: to travel excessively fast or beyond the permitted rate.

Verb

overspeed (third-person singular simple present overspeeds, present participle overspeeding, simple past and past participle (chiefly US) oversped or (chiefly UK) overspeeded)

  1. (intransitive) To travel excessively fast or beyond the permitted rate.
    • Caully-flowers over-speeding to pome and head..should be quite erradicated ^([sic – meaning eradicated]).1691, John Evelyn, Kalendarium Hortense
  2. (intransitive, sometimes, transitive, usually) To operate an engine or machine too fast.
    • The device should be periodically tested by overspeeding the engine say once a month.1949, A. C. Walshaw, Heat Engines (3 ed.)
  3. (India, intransitive) To speed; to drive a vehicle faster than the permitted speed limit.

Noun

overspeed (countable and uncountable, plural overspeeds)

  1. Speed that exceeds a reasonable or permitted rate.
    • Trashes are clogs strapped round the neck of a dog to prevent his overspeed.1826, Samuel Weller Singer, The Dramatic Works Of William Shakespeare: Macbeth. Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark. King Lear...
    • Protection devices are provided for engine and locomotive overspeed (maximum service speed is set at 90 m.p.h.); [...].1961 July, “The Hymek Type 3 diesel locomotive for the Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 437

overspeed meaning in Tamil

overspeed in Tamil

மிகுவிரைவு

Antonyms of overspeed

Forms of overspeed

Verb
third-person singular presentoverspeeds
present participleoverspeeding
past participle USoversped
past USoversped
past participle UKoverspeeded
past UKoverspeeded
Noun
pluraloverspeeds

Origin of overspeed

From over- + speed.

Questions about overspeed

What does overspeed mean?
Overspeed means to travel excessively fast or beyond the permitted rate.
What is overspeed in Tamil?
Overspeed in Tamil is மிகுவிரைவு. See Overspeed meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is overspeed?
Overspeed can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce overspeed?
Overspeed is pronounced /ˈoʊ.vɚˌspid/ (US).
What is the past tense of overspeed?
The past tense of overspeed is oversped.

Words near overspeed in the dictionary

  1. overspeculating
  2. overspeculation
  3. overspeculations
  4. overspeculative
  5. oversped
  6. overspeed
  7. overspeeded
  8. overspeedily
  9. overspeeding
  10. overspeeds
  11. overspeedy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overspeed (page history and authors); overspeed (Tamil 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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Cite this entry: “overspeed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overspeed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.