Outvote

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To achieve a greater number of votes than competitors in a selection process
2. To gain more approval through votes than other participants in a decision-making event
3. To prevail in a decision by securing a higher count of votes than opponents

Etymology: "Outvote" is a plain compound: the prefix "out-," meaning "beyond" or "surpassing," joined to "vote." That prefix is the same one that gives us "outrun" and "outlast," and in "outvote" it carries the sense of getting more of something than a rival does. The verb is built straightforwardly on the existing English noun and verb "vote," so there is no separate coinage or hidden story behind it. The "vote" half has its own deeper lineage. It comes from Latin "vōtum," a vow or solemn promise, which grew out of "vovēre," to vow. English took the word in the sense of a formal expression of choice, and the modern sense of a ballot emerged from that. Through the prefix and this base, "outvote" describes one side's choices surpassing another's in number.

Synonyms: defeat, overrule, outnumber, overwhelm, surpass

Antonyms: lose, yield, submit, surrender, acquiesce