From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsurpasssur‧pass /səˈpɑːs $ sərˈpæs/ ●○○ verb [transitive] BETTERto be even better or greater than someone or something else He had surpassed all our expectations. The number of multiple births has surpassed 100,000 for the first time.surpass yourself (=do something better than you have ever done before) With this painting he has surpassed himself.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
surpass• This surpasses amounts raised by such better-known parts of the University of Maryland at Baltimore as the schools of pharmacy and dentistry.• Yet the permanent achievements of her reign were not surpassed by any other ruler of the age.• In the early 1990s, Goodby helped Sega surpass Nintendo.• An analysis of landfills shows that thrown away food far surpasses plastics in volume.• By 1988, K-Mart and Wal-Mart were both well on their way to surpassing Sears in the world-wide merchandising business.• Among the Copernicans there was exhilaration at the thought that man, in his astronomical understanding, had now surpassed the ancients.• In 15 years, China will likely surpass the U.S. as the world's largest market.• Even Luzhkov has surpassed Yeltsin in national support, receiving 12 percent.surpass yourself• Stewart has surpassed himself with his latest novel.Origin surpass (1500-1600) Old French surpasser, from sur- ( → SURCHARGE) + passer “to pass” 