overriding

adjective

over·​rid·​ing ˌō-vər-ˈrī-diŋ 

ˌō-və-

: chief, principal

an overriding concern

Synonyms

• arch
• big
• capital
• cardinal
• central
• chief
• dominant
• first
• foremost
• grand
• great
• greatest
• highest
• key
• leading
• main
• master
• number one
• No. 1
• numero uno
• overbearing
• overmastering
• paramount
• predominant
• preeminent
• premier
• primal
• primary
• principal
• prior
• sovereign
• sovran
• supreme

Examples of overriding in a Sentence

We have one overriding concern.

The weather is the overriding factor in deciding whether to cancel the picnic.

Recent Examples on the Web

Based on the company’s presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday — which featured fresh offerings for robotics and autos, and a new overriding vision for the technology — investors appear to believe that the tech giant, and the A.I. surge more broadly, has more room to rally. —Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2025

Ankara’s overriding aim is to annihilate the Kurdish proto-state of Rojava in northern Syria, which is currently a bulwark against ISIS domination of that region. —Brian Katz, Foreign Affairs, 16 Oct. 2019

Through it all, there is an overriding sense that the world's richest man is using his power over President Donald Trump to steal from the public coffers and enrich himself. —Hannah Parry, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025

Trump has abandoned normalization and made countering Iran’s regional advances an overriding priority. —Kian Tajbakhsh, Foreign Affairs, 19 Mar. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overriding

• coinciding
• subdividing
• abiding
• backsliding
• colliding
• confiding
• deciding
• deriding
• dividing
• nitriding
• presiding
• providing