Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To overcome or vanquish by superior force; subdue.
  • transitive verb To affect so strongly as to make helpless or ineffective; overwhelm.
  • transitive verb To supply with excessive mechanical power.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Too great a power; extensive power.
  • To vanquish by superior power or force; subdue; reduce to silence, inaction, or submission; defeat.
  • To be too intense or violent for: overcome by intensity; overwhelm: as, his emotions overpowered him.
  • Synonyms Beat, Overwhelm, etc. (see defeat), overbear, master, crush.

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

  • transitive verb To excel or exceed in power; to cause to yield by superior power; to vanquish; to subdue.
  • noun A dominating power.

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

  • verb To subdue someone by superior force.
  • verb To render imperceptible by means of greater strength, intensity etc.

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

  • verb overcome by superior force
  • verb overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From over- + power.

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