Overspread

//əʊvəˈspɹɛd// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To spread over or across (something); cover over; be scattered over; permeate, overrun. transitive

    "those nations of the North which overspread the world"

  2. 2
    spread across or over wordnet
  3. 3
    To be spread or scattered about. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
spreadapplyapply tobesetbespreadbespread

Example

More examples

"A period of reform had now begun, and after 1909 a wave of "progressivism" overspread the country."

Etymology

From Middle English overspreden, from Old English ofersprǣdan; equivalent to over- + spread. Cognate with Dutch overspreiden (“to overspread”), German überspreiten (“to overspread”).

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