Overtakes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Comes alongside and moves ahead of someone or something that was previously in front
2. Surpasses another by closing distance and moving beyond them
3. Moves past a person, vehicle, or competitor to take the lead or get ahead

Etymology: The word is an inflected form, the third-person singular present of "overtake", so its story is really the story of that verb. Its roots are plain: "over" plus "take". The Old English ancestor, "oferniman", was built on "niman", meaning to take, and it meant "to take by surprise", a sense closer to catching someone unawares than to racing past them. Over the centuries the verb's "take" element was swapped for the more familiar "taken" form, which is why the modern spelling looks so transparent. Modern "overtakes" leans toward the physical sense of catching up with and passing someone on the road or track, a meaning that the older surprise sense sits quite close to.

Synonyms: surpasses, outpaces, outstrips

Antonyms: falls behind, loses, lags