Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use overcome in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, adjective

Overcome means to surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of. Example: “I was overcome with anger.”

Examples of overcome by meaning

verbTo surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.

  • In the early days troubles were experienced with oscillation from the rod drive and with the transformers, but were overcome later, and these machines performed useful service until superseded by more modern locomotives less costly in maintenance.1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743

verbTo prevail.

  • We shall overcome because Carlyle is right; "no lie can live forever".1968, Martin Luther King Jr., (Please provide the book title or journal name)

verbTo win against or prevail over in some sort of battle, contest, etc.

  • to overcome enemies in battle
  • And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

verbTo come or pass over; to spread over.

  • I was overcome with anger.
  • They were later found unconscious, having been overcome by the fumes.2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 51

More sentences with overcome

  • A high thrust-to-weight ratio helps a rocket to overcome the effects of gravity drag.From the entry drag
  • It's admirable that Shelley overcame her handicap and excelled in her work.From the entry admirable
  • It took years to overcome the anguish from my wife's death.From the entry anguish
  • A wave of emotion overcame her when she thought about her son who was killed in battle.From the entry wave
  • They were taken unawares and overcome when the room filled with a lethal, odorless gas.From the entry odorless
  • They were taken unawares and overcome when the room filled with a lethal, odourless gas.From the entry odourless
  • He understood the exam material, but his fear was a limitation he could not overcome.From the entry limitation
  • It was with great intrepitude that they were able to overcome the dilemma.From the entry intrepitude
  • The camera then cut to the woman on the front row who was clearly overcome and crying tears of joy.From the entry cut
  • The therapist tapped him when he was overcome by anxiety.From the entry tap
  • After much effort, she was able to overcome the pop tart label and be taken seriously as a musician.From the entry pop tart
  • You need to have faith in yourself, that you can overcome your shortcomings and become a good person.From the entry faith
  • Russia’s labor and capital resources are woefully inadequate to overcome the state’s needs and vulnerabilities, which are legion.From the entry legion
  • I was overcome by a tidal wave of emotions.From the entry tidal wave
  • It was a heart-warming movie about a child overcoming adversity.From the entry heart-warming
  • A caste-ridden society has an additional problem to overcome.From the entry caste-ridden
  • Sadly, the incongruencies between the two could not be overcome.From the entry incongruencies
  • The tongue-lolling bit was devised to overcome these habits.From the entry tongue-lolling bit
  • And amid all the finger-pointing and pushing to overcome the political fallout of the shooting, neither Mr.2026 January 28, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hamed Aleaziz, “Shooting Aftermath Leaves Homeland Security Department in Turmoil”, in The New York…. From the entry domestic
  • The Russian command must overcome the canal and advance on its western bank.2024 July 8th, “Reporting from Ukraine” (channel name), 07 Jul: Seriously? Russians Lose an Elite VDV Brigade for 20 Five-Story Buildings…. From the entry Kalynivka
  • You can crab block him but improvise and overcome this big mamma jamma!2022, Steven H. Smith, Shout at the Day 2: The Next Year. From the entry mamma jamma
  • How can society overcome the paralysis caused by “infowhelm” and denial?2022, Rachel Dreyfus, Anna Price, “How companies and organizations can overcome ‘infowhelm’ and motivate action for the planet”, in…. From the entry infowhelm
  • Warcrafters can join guilds and engage in epic battles to overcome various challenges.2022, David Seelow, quoting Gabor, Games as Transformative Experiences for Critical Thinking, Cultural Awareness, and Deep Learning…. From the entry Warcrafter
  • The pressure eventually overcomes the outer shell, erupting in a micronova.2021, Ben Davidson, The Next End of the World: The Rebirth of Catastrophism, Chapter 5.1, p.42. From the entry micronova
  • The weapon plants of the German Empire succeed in overcoming the shell hunger faster than the others.2021 October 29, Rem Word, Revolutionary. Frame by frame, Litres, →ISBN. From the entry shell hunger
  • And in this Name we overcome, for You shall see us safely home.2020, Rich Thompson, Jonny Robinson, “Your Will Be Done”. From the entry see
  • The urges are hard to overcome, but, I assure you, you're safe with me.2020 December 23, Raven Steele, A Monster's Birth, Raven Steele. From the entry freak
  • The sense that money and technology can overcome nature has emboldened Americans.2020 September 15, Abrahm Lustgarten, “How climate migration will reshape America: Millions will be displaced. Where will they go?”, in…. From the entry embolden
  • Trying to overcome anthropocentrism ends in moral relativism, same as with nationalism and ethnocentrism.2020, Ingo Niermann, “Wet Gods”, in Solution 295-304: Mare Amoris, Sternberg Press, →ISBN, pages 94–95. From the entry musealist
  • It represents therefore a repetition of violence that is overcome by the process of law.2018, Isabel Capeloa Gil, “Lex Fugit: On Acts of Legibility”, in Legibility in the Age of Signs and Machines (Thamyris/Intersecting…. From the entry Hogwartian
  • Once, a roach entomologist in Gainesville, Florida, helped a woman overcome her lifelong katsaridaphobia.2017 Summer, Clinton Crockett Peters, “Water Bugs: A Story Of Absolution”, in Southern Review, volume 53, number 3. From the entry katsaridaphobia
  • The town up the road was overcome by yellow fever, he said.2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 257. From the entry yellow fever
  • Let go to apprehend, surrender to overcome, and die to yourself that you might find life.2016, Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, →ISBN, page 37. From the entry zeroah
  • In this way, the problems of fruiting, garbling and over-interrogation are overcome.2015, Phil Croucher, Air Navigation With The Jeppesen CR-3, pages 6–51. From the entry fruiting

Meaning of overcome

  1. verb To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.
  2. verb To prevail.
  3. verb To recover from (a difficulty), to get over.

Full definition of overcome

Questions about overcome in a sentence

How do you use overcome in a sentence?
Overcome is used as a verb, noun and adjective. For example: “I was overcome with anger.”
What is a short sentence with overcome?
“I was overcome with anger.”
What does overcome mean?
Overcome means to surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overcome (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use overcome in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/overcome. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.