Learner’s Word of the Day |
=>Overtake |
Inflected forms: overtakes; overtook /-ˈtʊk/; overtaken /-ˈteɪkən/;overtaking
1 a [with object] : to move up to and past (someone or something that is in front of you) by moving faster
• The car overtook [=passed] the leader of the race on the turn.
• She overtook the other runners and went on to win the race.
Note: This sense of overtake is often used figuratively.
• All of the other candidates hope to overtake the front-runner by election day.
• Obesity may soon overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable deaths.
• Frank has overtaken his father in height. [=Frank is now taller than his father]
1 b [no object] British : to go past another vehicle that is moving more slowly in the same direction
• Never overtake [=(US) pass] on a curve.
• The sign says “No Overtaking.”
2 [with object] : to happen to or affect (someone) in a sudden and unexpected way
• The pain overtook him.
• Seasickness can overtake passengers when the ship encounters a storm.
• Sleep had overtaken them.
• I could feel the impulse to buy it overtaking [=seizing] me.
Idiom:
overtaken by events
: forced to be changed because of something that has suddenly and unexpectedly happened
• The original date for the meeting was overtaken by events and had to be changed.
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