Outmaneuver

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To gain a superior position over another by employing clever tactics or strategic movements in a competitive scenario
2. To effectively navigate around an opponent's efforts by using agility and wit to achieve a tactical advantage
3. To surpass an opponent through clever and skillful movement or tactics

Etymology: "Outmaneuver" is a plain compound: the prefix "out-" joined to "maneuver." The "out-" element traces back through Old English "ūt" to a very old Germanic root meaning "outward" or "away from within," the same sense it carries in "outlast" or "outrun." Its job here is to add the idea of getting ahead of or beating someone. The base word "maneuver" has a more winding path. It was borrowed from French "manœuvre," which itself came from medieval Latin "manuopera," meaning "hand work," built from Latin "manus" (hand) and "opera" (work). That literal sense of handling something with the hands survives in the word's older uses for physical labor and manual operation of machinery, before it came to mean planned military or tactical movements. Joining "out-" to "maneuver" produces a verb meaning to defeat someone by being more skillful in movement or strategy. The result is a modern formation, so its meaning follows directly from its two parts rather than from any older, separate sense.

Synonyms: outsmart, outwit, outfox

Antonyms: outmaneuvered