overcame

verb

past tense of overcome
1
as in defeated
to achieve a victory over the baseball team finally overcame their opponents in the 13th inning

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in overwhelmed
to subject to incapacitating emotional or mental stress already under stress, she was overcome by news of a death in the family

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of overcame The Sabres overcame a 3-2 deficit in a 4-3 home-opening win over Chicago on Saturday night. — CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 The Broncos, meanwhile, overcame a Week 1 loss to remain competitive, but have fallen behind the Chiefs and Raiders in the AFC West. — Jason Cohen, PC Magazine, 4 Oct. 2026 Jordan Love threw two touchdown passes and the Packers overcame two fourth-quarter turnovers to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-14 on Sunday. — ABC News, 4 Oct. 2026 Saturday’s game showed a team that overcame both mental and physical hurdles. — Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 30 Sep. 2026 Like Baltimore and Las Vegas, Buffalo overcame a deficit of at least 10 points, eventually beating the Los Angeles Chargers, 24-16. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 28 Sep. 2026 Social and playful 694 faces Katmai Brady Bunch member 620, while two bears that overcame incredible odds, 610 and 89 (Backpack), vie for votes in the other first round fight. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 25 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overcame
  1. defeated
  2. overwhelmed
  3. mastered
  4. devastated
  5. conquered
  6. took
  7. beat
  8. got
Verb
  • Samuel, or Samuil in Bulgarian, was a warrior emperor who battled the Byzantine Empire to expand his kingdom but was ultimately defeated and died shortly afterward in 1014.
    — COSTAS KANTOURIS, Arkansas Online, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The 1995 Jayhawks went 10-2 and defeated UCLA 51-30 in the bowl game.
    — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of defeated
Verb
  • To avoid the pitfalls of apps like Tinder and Hinge—where women are vastly outnumbered by men and are therefore overwhelmed by choice while men receive very few matches—FirstDate uses a Nobel Prize-winning matching theory algorithm.
    — Jim Edwards, Fortune, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The Gophers' defense overwhelmed Michigan's offense and quarterback Bryce Underwood Saturday.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of overwhelmed
Verb
  • The same approach beat three world champions at Barrage Stratego, a faster eight-piece variant of Stratego, mastered the cooperative card game Hanabi, and beat the best bots at the Chinese card game dou dizhu.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Boot season is officially here, and while numerous brands look to make the most of the seasonal shift, there are few labels that have mastered the mix of casual lifestyle appeal and functional outdoor capabilities like Timberland has.
    — Riley Jones, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of mastered
Verb
  • Healthcare workers who’d turned up for the event described patients choosing between affording medication or food, or how they themselves had been financially devastated by a medical crisis.
    — Kate Wells, Miami Herald, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Ji-hye’s punishment Ji-hye is devastated at the arrest of her son, and furiously tries to confess to the crime herself.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of devastated
Verb
  • In a single generation, energy drinks have conquered the beverage world.
    — Kent Sepkowitz, STAT, 5 Oct. 2026
  • The title hints that the film will follow Aegon the Conqueror, who, along with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys, invaded Westeros and conquered most of the Seven Kingdoms with the help of their dragons, Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes.
    — Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of conquered
Verb
  • Nearly 1,000 runners took this option, and the race charted 652 incidents of injury or illness.
    — Vibhu Krishna, STAT, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The plane descended sharply, losing half its altitude in less than two minutes, before other crew members took control of the Boeing 737 Max and made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
    — Victoria Craw, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of took
Verb
  • Built along a verdant slope edging Bodrum’s Paradise Bay, this contemporary property offers hard-to-beat vistas.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Hastert became a congressional candidate in 1986 and beat the Democrat with 52% of the vote, his smallest margin of victory in a congressional race.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of beat
Verb
  • If another worker with a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas PPO plan got the same drug at the same Houston Methodist hospital, an employer could be paying almost six times as much, or nearly $4,400 for a vial.
    — Bob Herman, STAT, 5 Oct. 2026
  • A little less than 18 months ago, Ukraine carried out a sneak drone attack in which forces smuggled them into Russian territory and waited until the truck that was unknowingly carrying them got close to Russian bases.
    — Mike Brest, The Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of got

Browse Nearby Words

overburdens
overcame
overcareful
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Overcame.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overcame. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of etiquette

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All