Word.ws English Dictionary

overtopping

UK/əʊvəˈtɒpɪŋ/

overtopping is the present participle and gerund of overtop.

Meaning of overtop

Verb

overtop (third-person singular simple present overtops, present participle overtopping, simple past and past participle overtopped)

  1. (transitive) To be higher than; to rise over the top of.
    • From thence we came without the Eaſtern gate, (ſtanding on a low Banke, called the daughter of Syon, that over-toppeth the valley of Iehoſaphat,) unto an immoveable ſtone, upon the which they ſaid St. Stephen was ſtoned to death, the firſt Martyr of the Chriſtian faith; and the faithfull...1640, William Lithgow, “The Sixt Part”, in The Totall Diſcourſe, Of the rare Adventures, and painefull Peregrinations of long nineteene yeares Travailes from Scotland, to the moſt famous Kingdomes in...
  2. (transitive) To place too many toppings on.
    • to overtop a pizza

See all 4 meanings of overtop

Noun

overtopping (countable and uncountable, plural overtoppings)

  1. An instance of water going over the top of a barrier such as a sea wall or levee.
    • Around 34 miles of the Wales Route's coastal lines are vulnerable to overtopping, coastal erosion and storm surges.2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, page 60

Adjective

overtopping (comparative more overtopping, superlative most overtopping)

  1. Surmounting, surpassing.
    • And he never said a word to her against her mother – he only remained dumb and discouraged in the face of her ladyship's own overtopping earnestness.1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew

Forms of overtopping

Noun
pluralovertoppings
Adjective
comparativemore overtopping
superlativemost overtopping

Questions about overtopping

What does overtopping mean?
Overtopping means an instance of water going over the top of a barrier such as a sea wall or levee.
What is overtopping the present participle and gerund of?
Overtopping is the present participle and gerund of overtop.
What part of speech is overtopping?
Overtopping can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce overtopping?
Overtopping is pronounced /əʊvəˈtɒpɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of overtopping?
The plural of overtopping is overtoppings.

Words near overtopping in the dictionary

  1. Overtons
  2. overtook
  3. overtop
  4. overtopped
  5. overtoppeth
  6. overtopping
  7. overtoppings
  8. overtopple
  9. overtoppled
  10. overtopples
  11. overtoppling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overtopping (page history and authors); overtop (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: “overtopping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overtopping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.