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overpowering

verb

Form of overpower , present participle of overpower.

Simple meaning

To subdue someone by superior force.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ohverpowring

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈoʊvɚˈpaʊɹɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. present participle of overpower

    To subdue someone by superior force.

  2. present participle of overpower

    Overcome by superior force

  3. present participle of overpower

    To excel or exceed in power; to cause to yield; to subdue.

  4. present participle of overpower

    To render imperceptible by means of greater strength, intensity, etc.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To subdue someone by superior force.

Used this way, overpowering is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

overpowering forceoverpowering senseoverpowering influenceoverpowering desireoverpowering numbersoverpowering effectoverpowering strength

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.