Surpass

//sɚˈpæs// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To go beyond or exceed (something) in an adjudicative or literal sense. transitive

    "The former problem student surpassed his instructor's expectations and scored top marks on his examination."

  2. 2
    be or do something to a greater degree wordnet
  3. 3
    move past wordnet
  4. 4
    be greater in scope or size than some standard wordnet
  5. 5
    distinguish oneself wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
exceedexceedexcelexceloutdooutstrip

Example

More examples

"If Spenser doesn't keep adding and translating sentences, the other contributors will surely surpass him."

Etymology

From Middle French surpasser (“to pass beyond”). By surface analysis, sur- + pass. Displaced native Old English oferstīgan (literally “to climb over”).

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