Outgazed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have directed one's gaze with greater intensity than another individual, surpassing their attention in duration and scrutiny
2. To have fixed one's eyes more intensely and for a longer time than someone else, overshadowing their focus
3. To have looked at something with more focus or duration than another person

Etymology: "Outgazed" is the past tense and past participle of "outgaze," which means to stare longer than someone else, or to outlast another person in a staring contest. The verb is formed from the prefix "out-," used in the sense of surpassing or exceeding, attached to "gaze." The pattern is a productive English one: "outrun," "outshine," and "outstare" all follow the same model, with "out-" meaning to do something more or better than a rival. "Gaze" itself is the older base of the pair, and "out-" has been used this way to build new verbs for centuries. The combination lets speakers compress a whole contest into a single word. Someone who "outgazed" a rival did not simply look at them, but kept looking after the other person looked away.

Synonyms: stared, gazed, looked, observed, watched

Antonyms: ignored, overlooked, disregarded, missed, neglected