Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To overcome (an obstacle, for example); conquer.
- v. To ascend to the top of; climb.
- v. To place something above; top.
- v. To be above or on top of: The church steeple surmounts the square.
- v. Obsolete To surpass or exceed in amount.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To mount or rise above; overtop; excel; surpass.
- To mount up on; pass over by mounting.
- To place something over or upon.
- To overcome; pass over, as difficulties or obstacles; get the better of.
- To rise up; hence, to surpass; exceed.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To rise above; to be higher than; to overtop.
- v. To conquer; to overcome.
- v. To surpass; to exceed.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be on top of
- v. get on top of; deal with successfully
- v. reach the highest point of
- v. be or do something to a greater degree
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old French surmonter ("to rise above, surmount"), from sur- ("above") + monter ("to mount"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English surmonten, from Old French surmonter : sur-, sur- + monter, to mount; see mount1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The key difficulty Mr Brown needs to surmount is that Labour looks so dreadfully tired (as well as appallingly incompetent, but let’s leave that to one side).”
“The barrier OneNote aims to surmount is one created by Microsoft’s own success in establishing Word and Outlook, plus the overall Windows file system, as the dominant standards for writing, calendar keeping, and workplace communication.”
“Of course we have "deep political and ideological divisions," but the failure of a committed left-wing ideologue to "surmount" them does not mean they are insurmountable, does not demonstrate that those divisions could not be surmounted by someone from either party truly determined to govern from closer to the center.”
“How will a growing common language allow humans to partake of life in a wider world, to surmount obstacles of global scope, and to find solace in continuities with the past?”
“WASHINGTON—When President Barack Obama addresses the nation Tuesday, Americans won't see a lot of the candidate who promised to surmount the nation's political divisions.”
The Wall Street Journal: State of the Union Speech To Feature Sharper Tone
“In a nutshell, Britain's experience suggests however loose the monetary policy, fiscal tightening is a hard headwind for an economy to surmount, especially when it's struggling out of a balance-sheet recession.”
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Debt Negotiators Should Look to Britain
“The ascent is precipitous, but the path is cut into continual and short windings, which enable you to surmount the perpendicularity of the mountain.”
“Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, impervious to my touch or sight; but I now found that I could wander on at liberty, with no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid.”
“The lowdown: As tough as it has been for the Red Wings to get out of the first round against upstart opponents who seemingly have a lot of things going for them, the overall talent level gap between these two teams should be too much for Columbus to surmount in a seven game series.”
“As a voice for listeners hoping to surmount struggles of their own, the singer emerged as a symbol of self help, music's equivalent of Oprah Winfrey.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘surmount’.
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Caesar
Bellum Gallicum
encroach, vanquish, bid, assail, avail, surmount, coerce, discomfit, rout, noteworthy, subjugate, governance and 22 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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verbs
deprecate, behold, bemoan, circumscribe, circumspect, pivot, discombobulate, rummage, chasten, chastise, undulate, snog and 122 more...
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What, another list?
ravishing, ravenous, pronk, brinksmanship, jaspe, mottle, chasm, testy, temperament, ponder, personally, phantom and 206 more...
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the name of the rose
pleasing words I encounter whilst reading umberto eco's novel of the same name.
matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, compline, usurper, simoniac, heresiarch, malefactor and 230 more...
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GRE 3500 S
saccharine, sacrilegious, sacrosanct, sagacious, sage, salient, salutary, salvo, sanctimonious, sanguine, sap, sardonic and 138 more...
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wolfson's Words
cicisbeo, animadversion, drupe, callipygian, rhadamanthine, poetaster, philosophaster, grammaticaster, lacuna, infralapsarian, incunabula, logorrhea and 142 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Absolute Favorites 2
splash, flesh, blockbuster, acclimatize, stream, grim, lush, crystal, bonkers, viceversa, vox, impact and 45 more...
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English
caprice, mien, supercilious, felicity, abscond, derision, redress, preclude, wont, surmount, fetter, aperture and 9 more...
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travel
for writing travelogues
traverse, delve, explore, discover, serene, bliss, heaven, haven, hotspot, nestled, secluded, transcend and 67 more...
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Paradise or Oblivion
disparity, conceive, ominous, bigotry, surmount, aberrant, prevalent, treaty, obsolescence, insoluble, subservient, equilibrium and 1 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for surmount.
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