From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishoutflankout‧flank /aʊtˈflæŋk/ verb [transitive] 1 ADVANTAGEto gain an advantage over an opponent, especially in politics The Tories found themselves outflanked by Labour on the issue of law and order.2 PMto go around the side of a group of enemies during a battle and attack them from behind→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
outflank• To the west, the army was outflanked by a huge number of British forces.• After initial successes, Cunningham's offensive had been outflanked by Rommel and brought to a standstill.• Even our books were outnumbered and outflanked by their leatherbound tomes.• Republicans sought to outflank Democrats on the tax bill.• And that was before Mr Jones had outflanked him with his marketing agreements.• The Prussian gunner officer saw another troop of Dragoons threatening to outflank his position.• Were they trying to outflank me?• Ollokot overtook them and joined a group of warriors in resisting Captain Benteen's attempt to outflank the fleeing families.• Perserverance and resourcefulness will be required to outflank the roadblocks and get on with the commitment.From Longman Business Dictionaryoutflankout‧flank /aʊtˈflæŋk/ verb [transitive] if one company, country etc outflanks another, it is more successful than itFor cheaper products, the Japanese outflanked Taiwan and Korea by building factories in Southeast Asia.It considered making a bid for the company but was outflanked by one of its competitors.→ See Verb table 