overlapping 1 of 2

Definition of overlappingnext

overlapping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of overlap
as in overlying
to lie over parts of one another the brochures on the display table should overlap but not so much that the titles are obscured

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of overlapping
Adjective
There were four short docs released under the SNL50 banner, plus Questlove’s Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music and Brent Hodge’s Downey Wrote That, all on Peacock and boasting myriad overlapping talking heads, filming locations and generally celebratory approaches to the beloved sketch show. Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 15 Apr. 2026 In the past couple years, AI has permeated the music industry in several overlapping but distinct ways. Andrew R. Chow, Time, 27 Mar. 2026 That approach breaks down as complexity increases, and women’s financial lives often involve more overlapping roles and decision-makers. Dan Cavanaugh, Forbes.com, 13 Mar. 2026 Its dealers also have non-overlapping territories, which reduces competition, according to the complaints. Kelli Arseneau, jsonline.com, 26 Feb. 2026
Verb
The last five millennia have typically seen a great diversity of co-existing political forms—sometimes overlapping and symbiotic, sometimes divided and incommensurable. Literary Hub, 18 May 2026 So natural that the Thunder hardly nursed any championship hangover amid overlapping injuries. Mark Medina, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026 That drone touches down at the address of architect Otone Komoto (Haruka Ayase), who designed her family’s modernist home, an arrangement of overlapping boxes stacked around a garden courtyard. David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2026 Top four of the slices with single layers of tomato and cucumber slices, overlapping slightly to ensure total coverage. Midwest Living, 15 May 2026 These overlapping relationships inevitably create operational risks. Isabella Wandermurem, Time, 15 May 2026 And perhaps most concerning, many outbreaks are now unfolding in environments already weakened by overlapping crises and political and health insecurity leading to fragile health infrastructure, workforce shortages, misinformation, and limited laboratory capacity. Krutika Kuppalli, STAT, 15 May 2026 Disorders such as long COVID share many overlapping symptoms with fibromyalgia, making misdiagnosis common. Jason Liebowitz, The Atlantic, 12 May 2026 Nair was also individually accused of four overlapping charges. Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 12 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overlapping
Adjective
  • When it was first released in December 1980, it was seen as too weird for kids and too naive for adults, but it has since been reconsidered as a unique snapshot of intersecting talents — a strange, wonderful, one-of-a-kind movie.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2026
  • Beef takes off from there, laying out intersecting circles of power and competition.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • The results are somewhat ambiguous as to how much ice may lurk unseen beneath layers of overlying ice-sparse material.
    K. R. Callaway, Scientific American, 18 Mar. 2026
  • However, those sea surface temperatures will be far warmer than the overlying air temperatures.
    Marshall Shepherd, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • There will be plenty of additional underlying hardware updates, for example a new DC to DC converter from ABB’s Brightloop.
    James Morris, Forbes.com, 16 May 2026
  • Guilfoyle said helpful approaches include increasing enrichment and sniff-based activities on walks, providing more structured chewing opportunities, treating underlying nausea, reflux, pain or anxiety if present, and redirecting with food or toys before the dog starts grazing heavily.
    Diana Bocco, USA Today, 15 May 2026
Verb
  • The neighborhood/area Facing the Arabian Sea, this resort is front and center to gentle breezes and lapping waves.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 May 2026
  • Cassie’s OnlyFans journey begins with her making content posing as a dog, replete with dog ears, collar, leash, wrist cuffs, tail, and a satin corset from Sweeney’s lingerie line SYRN, bending over and lapping up water from a bowl on the ground.
    Marlow Stern, Variety, 10 May 2026
Adjective
  • Again, the superposed vector can be decomposed into its constituents.
    Anil Ananthaswamy, Quanta Magazine, 13 Apr. 2023
  • Like entanglement, the superposed states essential to its power are fragile, collapsing when measured or otherwise perturbed by the outside world.
    Gabriel Popkin, Science | AAAS, 3 June 2021
Verb
  • For that, organizers turn to the same technology used when Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya broke the two-hour-marathon barrier in 2019, overlaying data onto potential routes to find the optimal one.
    Liam Tharme, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
  • Fears was one of the most vocal supporters of a $55 million general obligation bond approved by Independence voters last year, earmarked for rebuilding and overlaying streets around Independence.
    Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • On curved surfaces, parallel trajectories intersect—liberation movements that appear separate on maps organized around Euroamerican centers were always convergent in Afro-Asian circuits.
    Anel Rakhimzhanova, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2026
  • This one being of post-war emancipation, when the convergent forces of wanting to achieve a sun tan and wanting to show some skin became newly acceptable among socially progressive young people.
    Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 28 Dec. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Overlapping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overlapping. Accessed 20 May. 2026.

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