Outflew

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have flown away from someone or something at a greater speed or distance than another; to surpass in flight ability or range; to escape from a situation by flying away faster than others can follow
2. To depart through the air more quickly than a counterpart could manage; to exceed in distance or speed while in flight; to evade by outpacing in airborne movement
3. Having successfully flown away faster than another; exceeding another's ability to fly efficiently; successfully avoiding pursuit through superior flying speed

Etymology: "Outflew" is the simple past of "outfly," which means to fly faster than or beyond something else. The verb is formed from the prefix "out-," meaning beyond or surpassing, attached to "fly," so the whole word means that one thing flew past or exceeded another in flight. The pattern is a common English one: "outrun," "outdo," and "outlive" follow the same logic, with "out-" turning an ordinary action into a contest of surpassing. Because "outfly" is a regular compound built from two plain English elements, its past tense takes the irregular form "outflew," following the vowel pattern of "fly, flew, flown." The participle is "outflown."

Synonyms: outpaced, outperformed, outdistanced, outpaced, exceeded

Antonyms: underflew, failed, underperformed