Link Centre Dictionary

overshadow

overs·ha·dow

UK/ˌəʊ.vəˈʃæd.əʊ/ US/ˌoʊ.vɚˈʃæd.oʊ/ uncommon

verb

1.

exceed in importance; outweigh

  • “This problem overshadows our lives right now”
Synonyms
2.

make appear small by comparison

  • “This year”
Synonyms
3.

cast a shadow upon

  • “The tall tree overshadowed the house”
  • “The tragedy overshadowed the couple”

Origin

From Middle English overschadwen, overschadewe, from Old English ofersċeadwian (“to overshadow”), equivalent to over- + shadow. Compare with West Frisian oerskaduwe (“to overshadow”), Dutch overschaduwen (“to overshadow”), German überschatten (“to overshadow”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ufarskadwjan, “to overshadow”), and more distantly, Old Norse yfirskyggja (“to overshadow”), Danish overskygge (“to overshadow”), Swedish överskugga (“to overshadow”), Old English ofersċūwan (“to overshadow”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.