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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

overshadow.

To obscure something by casting a shadow.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˌəʊ.vəˈʃæd.əʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊ.vɚˈʃæd.oʊ/US
  1. To obscure something by casting a shadow.

    transitive
  2. To dominate something and make it seem insignificant.

    transitive
  3. To shelter or protect.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English overschadwen, overschadewe, from Old English ofersċeadwian (“to overshadow”), equivalent to over- + shadow. Compare with West Frisian oerskaduwe (“to overshadow”), Dutch overschaduwen (“to overshadow”), German überschatten (“to overshadow”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ufarskadwjan, “to overshadow”), and more distantly, Old Norse yfirskyggja (“to overshadow”), Danish overskygge (“to overshadow”), Swedish överskugga (“to overshadow”), Old English ofersċūwan (“to overshadow”).

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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.