Outsprinted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have run faster or more swiftly than someone else in a race or contest of speed, surpassing them by physical acceleration
2. Having moved quicker on foot to overtake or leave behind a competitor during a sprint; exceeding another's pace in a rapid run
3. Describes the act of defeating an opponent by achieving greater velocity during a short-distance run or burst of speed to finish ahead or first

Etymology: "Outsprinted" is the past tense of "outsprint," which is simply the prefix "out-" added to "sprint." The "out-" element means "beyond" or "surpassing," so to outsprint someone is to get ahead of them in a burst of speed. "Out-" traces back to an Old English form meaning "out" or "outward," which was carried into Middle English as "ut" before settling into its modern spelling. "Sprint" has a more tangled ancestry. Its earliest English forms appear in Middle English as "sprenten," meaning to spring, leap, or sprinkle, and that word came into English from Old Norse "sprenta," a causative form meaning to make something spring or jump. In other words, a sprint was originally a kind of leaping or springing motion before it narrowed to describe a short, fast race. Because the ancestor is a verb of sudden movement, "outsprint" fits naturally into a family of words about bursting ahead of rivals.

Synonyms: outpaced, outran, outperformed

Antonyms: lost, fell behind