Overhaul

//ˈəʊvəˌhɔːl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A major repair, renovation, or revision.

    "The engine required a complete overhaul to run properly."

  2. 2
    the act of improving by renewing and restoring wordnet
  3. 3
    The process after the fire appears extinguished in which the firefighters search the structure for signs of hot spots that may cause the structure to reignite.
  4. 4
    periodic maintenance on a car or machine wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To modernize, repair, renovate, or revise completely.

    "While the engines are dealt with in the diesel shop, their parent locomotives are overhauled in the erecting shop."

  2. 2
    make repairs, renovations, revisions or adjustments to wordnet
  3. 3
    To pass, overtake, or travel past.

    "An amusing incident on the first of these journeys was the checking by signal of the flyer about 3 miles out of Paris, with the result that it was overhauled by the 6.25 p.m. semi-fast from Paris to Montargis, to the unconcealed delight of passengers in the latter."

  4. 4
    travel past wordnet
  5. 5
    To keep (running rigging) clear, and see that no hitch occurs.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    To search (a ship) for contraband goods. transitive
  2. 7
    To carry out an overhaul.

Synonyms

All synonyms
examinationinspectionpassrenovationadjustadjustment

Example

More examples

"The Prime Minister tried to convince his coalition partners to overhaul pensions."

Etymology

From over- + haul.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.