Dictionary

overwrite en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /oʊ.vɚˈɹaɪt/ (US)
• audio
• /əʊ.vəˈɹaɪt/ (UK)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- English write English overwrite From over- + write.

Meanings

1. The operation of destroying older data by recording new data over it.
   • Tab to the number specifying the number of overwrites and enter a number between 1 and 9. 2014, Bruce Middleton, Conducting Network Penetration and Espionage in a Global Environment:

Forms

overwrite en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /oʊ.vɚˈɹaɪt/ (US)
• audio
• /əʊ.vəˈɹaɪt/ (UK)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- English write English overwrite From over- + write.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To destroy (older) data by recording new data over it.
   • I accidentally saved my unwanted changes and overwrote the version of the document I wanted to keep.
2. (transitive) To cover in writing; to write over the top of.
3. (ambitransitive) To write too much.
   • Many trainees consider that by increasing the length of the piece they will construct a good feature. This is often not the case and overwriting can lead to vague and muddled features that confuse the reader and ultimately lose their interest. 2013, Richard Rudin, Trevor Ibbotson, Introduction to Journalism:
4. (ambitransitive) To write in an unnecessarily complicated or florid way; to produce purple prose.
   • He overwrites constantly, but his detailed and understated one-paragraph description of Monroe's apartment in New York (pp. 216-18) injects high voltage into the de casibus tradition. 1986, David Novarr, The Lines of Life: Theories of Biography, 1880-1970, Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 162:
   • That said, the passage just looked at anticipates rather than participates in greatness. It is too adjectival, a stylistic flaw which suggests an insistence more apparent in the ensuing lines (182-91), where one is torn between thinking that Shelley is overwriting and that he is staying close to a feverish intensity. 1989, Michael O'Neill, The human mind's imaginings: conflict and achievement in Shelley's poetry, Oxford University Press, USA:
   • The Times of course has to pay the price of encyclopaedism by being often dreadfully overwritten, with long paragraphs connected by motley conjunctions. 1954, Edwin H. Ford, Edwin Emery, Highlights in the History of the American Press: A Book of Readings, U of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 367:

Forms

Deriveds

overwritable · overwriter · overwriteable

Translations (28)

ru перезаписа́ть (destroy old data) · pl nadpisywać (destroy old data) · be перазапіса́ць (destroy old data) · lb iwwerschreiwen (destroy old data) · cs přepsat (destroy old data) · pl nadpisać (destroy old data) · vi ghi đè (destroy old data) · de überschreiben (destroy old data) · ja 上書き (destroy old data) · uk перезаписа́ти (destroy old data) · oc subrescriure (destroy old data) · af oorskryf (destroy old data) · fr écraser (destroy old data) · it sovrascrivere (destroy old data) · uk перезапи́сувати (destroy old data) · sv skriva över (destroy old data) · ca sobreescriure (destroy old data) · fi korvata (destroy old data) · es sobrescribir (destroy old data) · be перазапі́сваць (destroy old data) · fi ylikirjoittaa (destroy old data) · es planchar (destroy old data) · oc espotir (destroy old data) · pt sobrescrever (destroy old data) · ro suprascriere de date (destroy old data) · nl overschrijven (destroy old data) · ru перезапи́сывать (destroy old data) · is skrifa yfir (destroy old data)