surpass
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English
Etymology
From Middle French surpasser (“to pass beyond”). By surface analysis, sur- + pass. Displaced native Old English oferstīgan (literally “to climb over”).
Pronunciation
Verb
surpass (third-person singular simple present surpasses, present participle surpassing, simple past and past participle surpassed)
- (transitive) To go beyond or exceed (something) in an adjudicative or literal sense.
- The former problem student surpassed his instructor's expectations and scored top marks on his examination.
- The heavy rains threatened to surpass the capabilities of the levee, endangering the town on the other side.
- 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
- “Two or three months more went by; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”
- 2021 May 2, Emma Sanders, “Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Sheffield United”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- He celebrated at full-time with a beaming smile as he collected the match ball and he notched up another milestone by becoming the sixth Welshman to surpass 50 Premier League goals.
Synonyms
- (to go beyond): exceed, forpass, transcend; see also Thesaurus:transcend
- (in a metaphoric or technical manner): exceed, excel, outdo, outstrip; see also Thesaurus:exceed
Translations
to exceed
Further reading
- “surpass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “surpass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “surpass”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
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