as in exceeded
to be greater, better, or stronger than
a manager whose arrogance was overtopped only by his ineptitude
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Recent Examples of overtopped
Workers began clearing debris and mud at first light from a catchment area where material had overtopped concrete barriers along the northbound shoulder.
—
Bay City News Service, Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2026
The existing levee was just an inch or two away from being overtopped by floodwaters earlier this month, according to Orting’s mayor, Joshua Penner.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 21 Dec. 2025
Both rivers have overtopped their banks, affecting residential areas, farmland, and roadways, though gradual declines are expected through Friday and into the weekend.
—Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
Seawalls were overtopped in sections along Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2025
In 1941, a huge wave caused by a snow and ice avalanche that fell into Laguna Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, overtopped the moraine dam that had contained the lake for decades.
—Suzanne Oconnell, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2025
Because the flooding has been a growing concern for Juneau over the past several years, city officials with federal assistance installed emergency flood barriers along several miles of riverbanks in the areas deemed most at risk for being overtopped.
—Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
Dunes and living levees — gently sloping barriers covered in vegetation — can be overtopped by waves or erode, damaging or possibly rendering nearby homes uninhabitable.
—Lindsey J. Smith, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Apr. 2022
Bay City News Service, Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2026
The existing levee was just an inch or two away from being overtopped by floodwaters earlier this month, according to Orting’s mayor, Joshua Penner.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 21 Dec. 2025
Both rivers have overtopped their banks, affecting residential areas, farmland, and roadways, though gradual declines are expected through Friday and into the weekend.
—Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
Seawalls were overtopped in sections along Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2025
In 1941, a huge wave caused by a snow and ice avalanche that fell into Laguna Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, overtopped the moraine dam that had contained the lake for decades.
—Suzanne Oconnell, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2025
Because the flooding has been a growing concern for Juneau over the past several years, city officials with federal assistance installed emergency flood barriers along several miles of riverbanks in the areas deemed most at risk for being overtopped.
—Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
Dunes and living levees — gently sloping barriers covered in vegetation — can be overtopped by waves or erode, damaging or possibly rendering nearby homes uninhabitable.
—Lindsey J. Smith, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Apr. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overtopped
Verb
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Johnson and Mazzulla both led teams that widely exceeded most preseason expectations.—
Tim Reynolds,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
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The ordeal began with a miscalculation in northern Chile, just south of Calama, where energy demands quickly exceeded expectations.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
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This rise in fatalities coincides with a record-high detention population, which recently surpassed 70,000 people in federal immigration custody.—
Armando Garcia,
ABC News,
16 Apr. 2026
-
The season finale audience was up 30% from the previous week and surpassed the Season 1 finale in 2019, which earned 530,000 viewers.—
Katie Campione,
Deadline,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The 76ers won the season-opener by one point, then topped Boston in November by two points.—
Matt Schooley,
CBS News,
15 Apr. 2026
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For more than a decade, Singapore has topped The Economist’s own cost-of-living index (sometimes alone and other times sharing the distinction).—
Amelia Mularz,
Architectural Digest,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Away from the Atlantic seaboard, Cincinnati was only eclipsed by New Orleans, another busy trading hub connected by the nation’s riverboats.—
Alexander Coolidge,
USA Today,
15 Apr. 2026
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In the two years since, Tisza has completely eclipsed Hungary’s old institutional opposition—a fractured gamut ranging from the far right to the left.—
Kapil Komireddi,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Overtopped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overtopped. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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