as in to overcome
to achieve a victory over
an Olympic swimmer who surmounted endless obstacles to achieve her goals
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Recent Examples of surmount
Thanks to older siblings and friends, permissive parents, fake IDs, and unethical sellers, some young people have always found ways to evade these bans, and similar tactics could work for surmounting a social-media ban as well.
—
Keith Humphreys, The Atlantic, 2 Feb. 2026
Stock challenges Among the challenges the stock market will have to surmount are troubling signals in the bond market, the portfolio manager warned.
—Sarah Min, CNBC, 19 Dec. 2025
Even if Beijing can mitigate these problems, the United States’ incumbent position in the world order and its enviable natural resources may provide structural bulwarks that China is unable to surmount.
—Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
Many people believed this couldn’t be surmounted, and work on the problem largely stopped.
—Michael Moyer, Quanta Magazine, 16 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for surmount
Keith Humphreys, The Atlantic, 2 Feb. 2026
Stock challenges Among the challenges the stock market will have to surmount are troubling signals in the bond market, the portfolio manager warned.
—Sarah Min, CNBC, 19 Dec. 2025
Even if Beijing can mitigate these problems, the United States’ incumbent position in the world order and its enviable natural resources may provide structural bulwarks that China is unable to surmount.
—Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
Many people believed this couldn’t be surmounted, and work on the problem largely stopped.
—Michael Moyer, Quanta Magazine, 16 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for surmount
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surmount
Verb
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The Hornets overcame foul trouble and a big free-throw discrepancy to win Tuesday.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
18 Mar. 2026
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Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
17 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Burleson defeated beat Fort Worth South Hills 5-0 on Thursday.—
Darren Lauber,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
21 Mar. 2026
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Four House members have lost primary bids for higher office, and another was defeated for renomination.—
David Mark,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The actor mastered Charles' verbal and physical mannerisms — and played the piano and lip-synced with a fervor few actors have ever mustered.—
Devan Coggan,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Mar. 2026
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Using food as a motivator, Merlin mastered the buttons in record time.—
Seth Carnell,
USA Today,
15 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Unable to conquer his doubts about that idea, Oosterhoff eventually soured on anthroposophy too.—
Charles Lane,
The Atlantic,
15 Mar. 2026
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Ben Wang delivers a breakthrough performance in the title role as a kid who tries to conquer his anxiety issues head-on by running for class president.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Advice columnist Carolyn Hax takes your comments and questions most Fridays about life, family, relationships and more.—
Carolyn Hax,
Washington Post,
27 Mar. 2026
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Fashion Month took us all over the globe, where weather patterns were seemingly different in every city.—
Kristina Rutkowski,
Vogue,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Surmount.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surmount. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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