From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishovertakeo‧ver‧take /ˌəʊvəˈteɪk $ ˌoʊvər-/ ●○○ verb (past tense overtook /-ˈtʊk/, past participle overtaken /-ˈteɪkən/) 1 [intransitive, transitive]TTPASS/GO PAST to go past a moving vehicle or person because you are going faster than them and want to get in front of them He pulled out to overtake the van. Never try to overtake on a bend.2 [transitive]BETTER to develop or increase more quickly than someone or something else and become more successful, more important, or more advanced than them Television soon overtook the cinema as the most popular form of entertainment. Hingis has now overtaken her in the world tennis rankings.3 [transitive]PREVENT if something bad, especially a feeling, overtakes you, it happens to you suddenly and has a strong effect on you → overcomebe overtaken by something She was overtaken by emotion and started to cry. A terrible sense of panic overtook him.4 → be overtaken by events→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
overtake• Points West was challenged and overtaken.• On the way, we overtook a battered old Renault.• Police overtook and captured the fleeing suspect.• He was overtaken by exhaustion.• Some are predicting that India could overtake China as the world's most populous country before 2050.• Before you start to overtake, make sure the road is clear ahead of you.• My mind has at last caught up, and indeed overtaken my body.• Two trucks overtaking one another brushed him to the side.• The environmental and economic implications have far overtaken the engineering.• For example, imagine a man is traveling aboard a faster train overtaking the first on a parallel track.• The Clippers played better in the second half but couldn't overtake the Rockets and lost by eight points.• By 1970 the U.S. had overtaken the Soviet Union in space technology.• Ollokot overtook them and joined a group of warriors in resisting Captain Benteen's attempt to outflank the fleeing families.• Before sleep overtook us, we reflected on our last few days' climbing.be overtaken by something• There was a moment, I have to admit, when I was overtaken by a feeling of infinite sadness.• Once down in the snow he was overtaken by a heavy lethargy.• I knew I wouldn't get back in two hours when I was overtaken by a hopping rabbit.• It was overtaken by a long cyclical drought.• Half way through the park Quinn was overtaken by an urge to rest.• Butlin himself was to be overtaken by further developments in the postwar holiday industry.• Both figured among the qualifiers, though they were overtaken by Ross Drummond and Brian Marchbank.• It was not a hesitant or infant Church that was overtaken by the apocalyptic disasters of the barbarian Invasions. 