Overwrite
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The operation of destroying older data by recording new data over it.
"Tab to the number specifying the number of overwrites and enter a number between 1 and 9."
- 1 To destroy (older) data by recording new data over it. transitive
"I accidentally saved my unwanted changes and overwrote the version of the document I wanted to keep."
- 2 write new data on top of existing data and thus erase the previously existing data wordnet
- 3 To cover in writing; to write over the top of. transitive
- 4 To write too much. ambitransitive
"Many trainees consider that by increasing the length of the piece they will construct a good feature. This is often not the case and overwriting can lead to vague and muddled features that confuse the reader and ultimately lose their interest."
- 5 To write in an unnecessarily complicated or florid way; to produce purple prose. ambitransitive
"The Times of course has to pay the price of encyclopaedism by being often dreadfully overwritten, with long paragraphs connected by motley conjunctions."
Example
More examples"Do you want to overwrite the saved data?"
Etymology
From over- + write.
Related phrases
More for "overwrite"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.