overpass
/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)pæs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.96 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A section of a road or path that crosses over an obstacle, especially another road, railway, etc.
Canadian usage; American usage
verb
To pass above something, as when flying or moving on a higher road.
Canadian usage; American usage
Example Sentences
- "The homeless man had built a little shelter, complete with cook-stove, beneath a concrete overpass."
- "By visible evidence, this Saturday morning is a comparatively placid one. Earlier in the week a young man had died after being stabbed in a flat, and from the overpass at Archway Road, darkly referred to as “suicide bridge,” another man had jumped to his death."
- "Gillian watched the overpassing shoppers on the second floor of the mall, as she relaxed in the bench on the ground floor."
- "Marshall was really overpassing his authority when he ordered the security guards to fire their tasers at the trespassers."
- "The precocious student had really overpassed her peers, and was reading books written for children several years older."
- "Thou who didst fling on Troia's every tower / The o'er-roofing snare, that neither great thing might, / Nor any of the young ones, overpass / Captivity's great sweep-net— […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- Proto-Indo-European *peth₂-der. Proto-Italic *pattus Latin passus Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *passāre Old French passerbor. Middle English passen English pass English overpass From over- + pass.
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
Inflected Forms
overpasses (plural)
o'erpass (alternative, poetic)
overpasses (present, singular)
overpassing (participle, present)
overpassed (participle, past)
overpassed (past)
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
flyover
pass over
transpass
overgo
surpass
transgress
misregard
miss
overlook
take no notice of
fail to notice