What does "overwinter" mean?

To keep or preserve for the winter.

What is a synonym for "overwinter"?

Common synonyms include: oversummer, winter, winter.

Pronounced //ˌoʊ.vɚˈwɪn.tɚ//.

//ˌoʊ.vɚˈwɪn.tɚ// adj, adv, verb

adj, adv, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To keep or preserve for the winter. transitive
"It is best to overwinter tender plants indoors."
2
spend the winter wordnet
3
To spend the winter (in a particular place). intransitive
"Insects may overwinter in fallen fruit if it is not removed."

Adjective

1
Occurring over the winter season. not-comparable
"The effect of seedling size on overwinter injury was analyzed separately by analysis of covariance."

Adverb

1
During the winter. not-comparable
"Ground cover of perennial grasses declined seriously under plots covered overwinter with dead thistle plants."

"During the fall, the skies come alive as one million ducks, geese, and swans return to overwinter on the Chesapeake."

From over- + winter. Compare Dutch overwinteren, German überwintern.

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