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# overtake

«overtake» in Mova's school dictionary: **to catch up with someone moving in the same direction and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (overtake, overtakes, overtook, overtaken, overtaking)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To overtake is to catch up with someone moving in the same direction and go past them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#m1)

2) To overtake can mean to become bigger or better than someone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#m2)

3) To overtake can mean to happen to someone suddenly, like a feeling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In road safety, cars overtake cyclists and must leave plenty of space; overtaking is dangerous on bends and hills. In races, a runner overtakes another. In stories, "fear overtook him". American English often says "pass".

### examples

- The runner overtook three others on the last lap. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x1)
- Never overtake on a bend. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x2)
- A car overtook our bus. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x3)
- Sales of e-books may overtake paper books. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x4)
- Sleep overtook the tired children. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x5)
- The faster horse overtook the leader. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x6)
- The Prince followed, but could not overtake her. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/#x7)

### note

Irregular like "take": overtake, overtook, overtaken. Noun: overtaking. In maths speed problems, one overtakes the other when they have travelled the same distance from the same start.

### In the corpora

- [India and China are the two most populous countries, each with about 1.4 billion people, and India overtook China around 2023.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/24-population-and-cities/11/)
- [If you overtake the runner in second place, you take second place; the leader is still ahead of you.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/181-trick-questions-that-catch-quick-thinkers/10/)
- [And he overtook them, and he spoke unto them these words.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1443/)
- [I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them; neither did I turn back till they were consumed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.249/)
- [Thy hand shall be equal to all thine enemies; thy right hand shall overtake those that hate thee.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.301/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «overtake» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overtake/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.