overcome

Example sentences of the word overcome:

Example Sentences:

To succeed, one must overcome obstacles.

He overcame his fear of heights and climbed the ladder.

She overcame a leg injury and is back running again.

After a tough battle, they overcame the enemy.

Use the verb overcome when you talk about someone who has triumphed over adversity. You can also be overcome with emotions, or overwhelmed by your feelings. Many people feel so overcome with sadness at a movie — or happiness at a wedding. The verb overcome also means to win or surpass. If you are going to win the marathon, you are going to have to overcome the five runners still ahead of you.

Difficulties/obstacles can be overcome by efforts. For example:

Example Sentences:

These difficulties were overcome by the efforts of devoted officers.

The phrases “to be overcome by” and “to be overcome with” are often used.

The phrasal verb “be overcome with” means to be strongly affected by an emotion or a feeling. For example:

Example Sentences:

He was suddenly overcome with remorse for the harm he had done.

The whole team was overcome with the joy of winning and being champions.

After his dog died, Danny was overcome with grief.

If you are overcome by smoke or a poisonous gas, you become very ill or die from breathing it in. For example:

Example Sentences:

Five employees were overcome by smoke.

Several firefighters had been overcome by smoke and fumes.

The residents were trying to escape from the fire but were overcome by smoke.

For the phrasal verb “be overcome by”, if you are overcome by a feeling or event, it is so strong or has such a strong effect that you cannot think clearly. For example:

Example Sentences:

The family was overcome by grief.

The night before the test I was overcome by nervousness.