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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

overcome.

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

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊ.vəɹˈkʌm/Canada, General-American/ˌəʉ.vəˈkɐm/Australia/ˌɐʉ.vɐˈkɐm/New-Zealand
  1. To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.

    transitive
  2. To prevail.

    intransitive
  3. To recover from (a difficulty), to get over.

    transitive
  4. To win against or prevail over in some sort of battle, contest, etc.

    transitive
    to overcome enemies in battle
  5. To come or pass over; to spread over.

    I was overcome with anger.
  6. To overflow; to surcharge.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English overcomen, inherited from Old English ofercuman (“to overcome, subdue, compel, conquer, obtain, attain, reach, overtake”). By surface analysis, over- + come. Cognate with Dutch overkomen, German überkommen, Danish overkomme, Swedish överkomma.

noun/ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊ.vəɹˈkʌm/Canada, General-American/ˌəʉ.vəˈkɐm/Australia/ˌɐʉ.vɐˈkɐm/New-Zealand
  1. The burden or recurring theme in a song.

    Scotland
  2. A surplus.

    Scotland
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English overcomen, inherited from Old English ofercuman (“to overcome, subdue, compel, conquer, obtain, attain, reach, overtake”). By surface analysis, over- + come. Cognate with Dutch overkomen, German überkommen, Danish overkomme, Swedish överkomma.

adj/ˌəʊ.vəˈkʌm/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊ.vəɹˈkʌm/Canada, General-American/ˌəʉ.vəˈkɐm/Australia/ˌɐʉ.vɐˈkɐm/New-Zealand
  1. That has been overcome, prevailed over.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English overcomen, inherited from Old English ofercuman (“to overcome, subdue, compel, conquer, obtain, attain, reach, overtake”). By surface analysis, over- + come. Cognate with Dutch overkomen, German überkommen, Danish overkomme, Swedish överkomma.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.