overtake
Syllables: o·ver·take/əʊ̯vəːˈteɪ̯k//oʊ̯vɚˈteɪ̯k/
overtake verb: to pass a slower moving object or entity (on the side closest to oncoming traffic).
Verb
overtake (third-person singular simple present overtakes, present participle overtaking, simple past overtook, past participle overtaken)
- To pass a slower moving object or entity (on the side closest to oncoming traffic).
- The racehorse overtook the lead pack on the last turn.
- The car was so slow we were overtaken by a bus.
- Synonyms:
- forge
- Antonyms:
- undertake[curbside]]>
- To become greater than something else in quantity, worth, etc.
- Grocery sales in the north have overtaken those in the south.
- To take by surprise; surprise and overcome; carry away.
- Our plans were overtaken by events.
- VVhy didſt thou promiſe ſuch a beautious day, / And make me trauaile forth vvithout my cloake, / To let bace cloudes ore-take me in my vvay, / Hiding thy brau'ry in their rotten ſmoke.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 34”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
Noun
UK/ˈəʊ̯vəːteɪ̯k/US/ˈoʊ̯vɚteɪ̯k/
overtake (plural overtakes)
- An act of overtaking; an overtaking maneuver.
- There wasn't enough distance left before the bend for an overtake, so I had to trundle behind the tractor for another mile.
overtake meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
overtake in Tamil
- to pass a more slowly moving object
- முந்து muntu
overtake in Urdu
- آ لینا, جا لینا, پانا
overtake in Malayalam
- മുന്നിൽ കയറാൻ ശ്രമിക്കുക, പുറകിടുക, പിന്നിലാക്കുക, മറികടക്കുക
overtake in Kannada
- ಮುಂದಕ್ಕೆ ದಾಟಿಹೋಗು, ಹಿಂದೆ ಬೀಳಿಸು, ಮೀರಿಸು, ಏಕಾಏಕಿ ಸಂಭವಿಸು, ಏಕಾಏಕಿ ಘಟಿಸು, ಬೆನ್ನಿಕ್ಕು
More languagesFewer languages
- overtake in Punjabi
- ਕੱਟਣਾ kaṭṭaṇā
- overtake in Gujarati
- ઓવરટેક
- overtake in Odia
- ଲାଗିବା lāgibā, ଚୁମ୍ବିବା cumbibā
- overtake in Arabic
- سَبَقَ sabaqa
- overtake in Thai
- แซง sɛɛng
- overtake in Vietnamese
- vượt
Examples of overtake in a sentence
- "If the coach doesn't overtake me on the road, I can wait for it where I stop to breakfast.1862, [William] Wilkie Collins, chapter II, in No Name. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], →OCLC, 4th (Aldborough...
- The station is planned to include platform loops enabling fast trains to overtake slower ones and is expected to be served by at least four trains per hour towards London.2019 October, “Funding for 20tph East London service”, in Modern Railways, page 18:
Synonyms of overtake
Antonyms
- undertake[curbside]]>
Forms of overtake
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | overtakes |
| present participle | overtaking |
| past | overtook |
| past participle | overtaken |
| Noun | |
| plural | overtakes |
Origin of overtake
From Middle English overtaken, likely a replacement alteration (as the Middle English verb taken replaced nimen (“to take”)), of Middle English overnimen (“to overtake”), from Old English oferniman (“to take by surprise, overtake”), equivalent to over- + take.
Words formed from overtake
Words that rhyme with overtake
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- flake
- slake
- stake
- wake
- sheikh
- strake
- betake
- mosaic
- blake
- fake
- jake
- opaque
- forsake
- lake
- mistake
- raik
- retake
- sake
- claik
- hake
- partake
- quake
- Spirit Lake
- steak
- ache
- remake
- spake
- tea break
- wrake
- ake
- alphamosaic
- ashake
- Choctaw Lake
- crake
- Deer Lake
- demake
- eastern green drake
- glass snake
- laik
- moonquake
- Mud Lake
- nake
- parliament cake
- prison break
- radiopaque
- rattlesnake
- reshake
- sodaic
Questions about overtake
- What does overtake mean?
- Overtake means to pass a slower moving object or entity (on the side closest to oncoming traffic).
- What is overtake in Tamil?
- Overtake in Tamil is முந்து (muntu). See Overtake meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use overtake in a sentence?
- "If the coach doesn't overtake me on the road, I can wait for it where I stop to breakfast.
- What part of speech is overtake?
- Overtake can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce overtake?
- Overtake is pronounced /əʊ̯vəːˈteɪ̯k/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of overtake?
- The past tense of overtake is overtook.
Words near overtake in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: overtake (page history and authors); overtake (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); overtake (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); overtake (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੱਟਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); overtake (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଚୁମ୍ବିବା (Odia) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-overtake.wav, en-us-overtake.ogg.
Cite this entry: “overtake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overtake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.