Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective So strong as to be overwhelming.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • That is too powerful to resist; overwhelming; crushing; too intense to bear.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Excelling in power; too powerful; irresistible.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of overpower.
  • adjective That overpowers; so strong as to be overwhelming.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective so strong as to be irresistible

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The junior quarterback threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more and No. 5 West Virginia rolled up 599 total yards in overpowering East Carolina 48-7 on Saturday.

    USATODAY.com - College Football - East Carolina vs. West Virginia 2006

  • In order to not get caught up in overpowering emotion, one must make it a point to avoid what gets one riled up: “I avoid like the plague morose men of gloomy complexions, and I do not engage in any discussion which I cannot treat without self-interest or emotion, unless compelled to do so by duty.”

    Calm, Cool and Collected « So Many Books 2005

  • So overpowering is her strange work routine that Mandakini, who goes by the name Mandy when she's on duty, finds that her work persona often invades her personal life.

    Boing Boing: October 20, 2002 - October 26, 2002 Archives 2002

  • The Bulldogs were overpowering from the opening kickoff, and dealt a crushing blow to the Razorbacks 'confidence by scoring

    NCAA Football - Georgia vs. Arkansas 2000

  • Most compelling are her songs that capture the essence of saudade, which has no exact translation to English but can be described as the overpowering nostalgia and yearning for something which is gone.

    Buzzine » Mariza 2009

  • Why didn ` t they smell when they visited his home, this odor that ` s been described as overpowering to the entire neighborhood?

    CNN Transcript Nov 2, 2009 2009

  • He wasn't a large man, and had never been the sporty type, so there were no golf clubs or baseball bats lying handily around, and the notion of overpowering a hulking burglar with the meagre physical means at his disposal was laughable.

    Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 2003

  • The boy soon saw him reappear behind the sharp rock-wall that jutted out into the valley, rubbing crushed pine-needles upon himself with the idea of overpowering the human odor, although, whether effective in its purpose or not, it was not necessary -- a strong up-wind from deer to man making it impossible that they could scent him.

    The Mascot of Sweet Briar Gulch Henry Wallace Phillips 1899

  • * Sadistic Conception of the Sexual Act. * -- If children of so delicate an age become spectators of the sexual act between grown-ups, for which an occasion is furnished by the conviction of the grown-ups that little children cannot understand anything sexual, they cannot help conceiving the sexual act as a kind of maltreating or overpowering, that is, it impresses them in a sadistic sense.

    Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex Sigmund Freud 1897

  • Lisa Ling recalls the overpowering emotion when American couples in China meet their adopted daughters for the first time.

    WN.com - Articles related to Japan wants to exit from aid politics as China muscles in 2010

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