overwriting

Verb

overwrite (third-person singular simple present overwrites, present participle overwriting, simple past overwrote, past participle overwritten)

1. (transitive) To destroy (older) data by recording new data over it.
   • I accidentally saved my unwanted changes and overwrote the version of the document I wanted to keep.
2. (transitive) To cover in writing; to write over the top of.
3. (ambitransitive) To write too much.
   • Many trainees consider that by increasing the length of the piece they will construct a good feature. This is often not the case and overwriting can lead to vague and muddled features that confuse the reader and ultimately lose their interest.2013, Richard Rudin, Trevor Ibbotson, Introduction to Journalism
4. (ambitransitive) To write in an unnecessarily complicated or florid way; to produce purple prose.
   • The Times of course has to pay the price of encyclopaedism by being often dreadfully overwritten, with long paragraphs connected by motley conjunctions.1954, Edwin H. Ford, Edwin Emery, Highlights in the History of the American Press: A Book of Readings, U of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 367

See all 5 meanings of overwrite