overlap

play

verb over·lap \ˌō-vər-ˈlap\

Definition of overlap

transitive verb
1 : to extend over or past and cover a part of The roof shingles overlap each other.
2 : to have something in common with Baseball season overlaps the football season in September.
intransitive verb
1 : to occupy the same area in part The two towns overlap.
2 : to have something in common Some of their duties overlap.

overlap

play \ˈō-vər-ˌlap\ noun

See overlap defined for English-language learners

See overlap defined for kids

Examples of overlap in a Sentence

The roof shingles overlap each other.
Baseball season overlaps football season in September.
Some of your duties overlap his.

Recent Examples of overlap from the Web

Not surprisingly, nine of the 14 teams to win 10 or more games in five straight seasons did so since 1978 while another two overlapped into that period.

— bob condotta, The Seattle Times, "Seahawks shooting for another 10-win season — and a little bit more NFL history — in 2017," 18 July 2017
His favorite technique was to keep grants of authority incomplete, jurisdictions uncertain, charters overlapping.

— richard haass, The Atlantic, "Donald Trump and the Danger of 'Adhocracy'," 18 July 2017
Indonesia doesn’t have a territorial dispute with China, but Beijing’s nine-dash line, which signifies its claims, overlaps with Indonesia’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone extending from the Natuna islands.

— Washington Post, "Amid disputes, Indonesia renames part of South China Sea," 17 July 2017
Patients don’t seem enamored of overlapping surgery.

— sandra g. boodman, Kaiser Health News, "Double-Booked: When Surgeons Operate On Two Patients At Once," 12 July 2017
Proponents say that overlapping operations can improve efficiency and better utilize a surgeon's valuable time.

— sandra g. boodman, chicagotribune.com, "Is your surgeon double-booked?," 10 July 2017
The northern resident killer whales, whose range overlaps with the southern residents, number about 300 and live mostly north of Vancouver Island’s Campbell River.

— rocky barker and brittany peterson, idahostatesman, "Fate of Pacific Northwest orcas tied to having enough Columbia River salmon," 9 July 2017
The traits that make restaurants last tend not to overlap with those qualities that lead to social media virality.

— brett anderson, NOLA.com, "Uptown bistro Carrollton Market upgraded to 4 beans," 6 July 2017
She and Enninful overlapped at American Vogue (a time immortalized in the documentary The September Issue).

— sarah spellings, The Cut, "Grace Coddington, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and Steve McQueen are British Vogue’s New Contributors," 6 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'overlap.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of overlap

1704

OVERLAP Defined for English Language Learners

overlap

play

verb

Definition of overlap for English Language Learners

: to lie over the edge of (something) : to cover part of the edge of (something)
: to happen at the same time as something else
: to have parts that are the same as parts of something else