overtake
[verb]
Synonyms:
- pass, catch up with, get past, leave behind, outdistance, outdo, outstrip, overhaul
- befall, engulf, happen, hit, overwhelm, strike

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

o‧ver‧take /ˌəʊvəˈteɪk $ ˌoʊvər-/ verb (past tense overtook /-ˈtʊk/, past participle overtaken /-ˈteɪkən/)
[Word Family: noun: takings, undertaking, take, taker; verb: take, overtake, undertake]

1. [intransitive and transitive] to go past a moving vehicle or person because you are going faster than them and want to get in front of them:
He pulled out to overtake the van.
Never try to overtake on a bend.

2. [transitive] to develop or increase more quickly than someone or something else and become more successful, more important, or more advanced than them:
Television soon overtook the cinema as the most popular form of entertainment.
Hingis has now overtaken her in the world tennis rankings.

3. [transitive] if something bad, especially a feeling, overtakes you, it happens to you suddenly and has a strong effect on you ⇒ overcome
be overtaken by something
She was overtaken by emotion and started to cry.
A terrible sense of panic overtook him.

4. be overtaken by events if you are overtaken by events, the situation changes, so that your plans or ideas are not useful any more:
The diplomatic negotiations were soon overtaken by events.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲