Dictionary

outweigh en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˌaʊtˈweɪ/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úd Proto-Germanic *ūt Proto-Germanic *ūt- Old English ūt- Middle English ut- English out- Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰeti Proto-Germanic *weganą Proto-West Germanic *wegan Old English wegan Middle English weyen English weigh English outweigh From out- + weigh.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To exceed in weight or mass.
   • The King your brother is now hard at hand, Meete with the foole, and rid your royall ſhoulders Of ſuch a burden, as outweighs the ſands And all the craggie rockes of Caſpea. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
2. (transitive) To exceed in importance or value.
   • The advantage […] was so great that it would have taken a lot of failures to outweigh it. 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
   • The trials have revealed that the advantage of extra seating capacity is more than outweighed by slower station working, as the double-deck train affords one door for 22 seats, compared with 10 or 12 in ordinary compartment stock. 1951 January, “Notes and News: Double-Deck Train Trials Results”, in Railway Magazine, page 66:
   • A few trains, mostly at peak periods, will still terminate at Barnsley because the convenience to workpeople of their current times outweighs the advantages of through working. 1960 April, “Talking of trains: The new link at Barnsley”, in Trains Illustrated, page 197:
   • Flores said the images’ negative impact outweighs their historical and artistic value. 2019 May 20, Walter Thompson, “A school's mural removal: should kids be shielded from brutal US history?”, in The Guardian:

Forms

Relateds

outnumber

Synonyms

override

Translations (18)

de überragen (to exceed in importance or value) · it eccedere (to exceed in weight or mass) · ro a excede în valoare (to exceed in importance or value) · es ser mayor que (to exceed in importance or value) · ro a cântări mai greu decât (to exceed in weight or mass) · bg имам по-голямо значение (to exceed in importance or value) · it superare (to exceed in importance or value) · de überwiegen (to exceed in weight or mass) · es pesar más que (to exceed in weight or mass) · es exceder (to exceed in importance or value) · ar ثَقَلَ (to exceed in weight or mass) · bg тежа повече от (to exceed in weight or mass) · es superar (to exceed in importance or value) · ja 上回る (to exceed in importance or value) · es importar/valer más que (to exceed in importance or value) · es preponderar (to exceed in weight or mass) · es preponderar (to exceed in importance or value) · es tener más peso que (to exceed in importance or value)