overtopped

verb

past tense of overtop
as in exceeded
to be greater, better, or stronger than a manager whose arrogance was overtopped only by his ineptitude

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 overtopped Seawalls were overtopped in sections along Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk. — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2025 Workers began clearing debris and mud at first light from a catchment area where material had overtopped concrete barriers along the northbound shoulder. — Bay City News Service, Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2026 Both rivers have overtopped their banks, affecting residential areas, farmland, and roadways, though gradual declines are expected through Friday and into the weekend. — Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025 The dam was in the process of being turned over to area residents when the failure occurred, releasing a torrent that also overtopped the downstream Sanford Dam and flooded the city of Midland. — ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026 The existing levee was just an inch or two away from being overtopped by floodwaters earlier this month, according to Orting’s mayor, Joshua Penner. — Evan Bush, NBC news, 21 Dec. 2025 Dunes and living levees — gently sloping barriers covered in vegetation — can be overtopped by waves or erode, damaging or possibly rendering nearby homes uninhabitable. — Lindsey J. Smith, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Apr. 2022 In 1941, a huge wave caused by a snow and ice avalanche that fell into Laguna Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, overtopped the moraine dam that had contained the lake for decades. — Suzanne Oconnell, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2025 Because the flooding has been a growing concern for Juneau over the past several years, city officials with federal assistance installed emergency flood barriers along several miles of riverbanks in the areas deemed most at risk for being overtopped. — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overtopped
  1. exceeded
  2. surpassed
  3. topped
  4. eclipsed
Verb
  • Between 2022 and 2024, public cash injections exceeded 10%of GDP, according to a study published last year by the Institute of Economics and Peace, an Australian think tank.
    — Tristan Bove, Fortune, 2 July 2026
  • If the cost of tokens has already exceeded the cost of the employees they were meant to replace, when does the comparison start running in the other direction?
    — Jemma Green, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of exceeded
Verb
  • The company, expected to report ​results later this month, had in April forecast quarterly Azure sales above Wall Street estimates, but also issued ‌a $190 billion ⁠spending projection for 2026 that massively surpassed expectations.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 6 July 2026
  • The company, expected to report results later this month, had in April forecast quarterly Azure sales above Wall Street estimates, but also issued a $190 billion spending projection for 2026 that massively surpassed expectations.
    — Aditya Soni, USA Today, 6 July 2026
Definition of surpassed
Verb
  • Tangy strawberry-lemonade jam is spread between tender lemon cake layers and topped with a strawberry frosting.
    — Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 5 July 2026
  • They’re topped with pink chrome powder that gives off a golden-hour glow.
    — Ariel Wodarcyk, InStyle, 5 July 2026
Definition of topped
Verb
  • This year, the usual backyard cookouts and fireworks are being eclipsed by once-in-a-generation celebrations marking the nation’s 250th birthday.
    — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 3 July 2026
  • That power is not wholly spent, nor wholly eclipsed, by anti-democratic forces.
    — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 3 July 2026
Definition of eclipsed

Browse Nearby Words

overtop
overtopped
overtopping
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Cite this Entry

“Overtopped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overtopped. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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