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PlainSpell

override

/oʊ.vɚˈɹaɪd/verb, noun

override is spelled O-V-E-R-R-I-D-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, override means “To ride across or beyond something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in override?

Letters8: O-V-E-R-R-I-D-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is override?

Override appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce override?

  • UK /əʊ.vəˈɹaɪd/
  • US /oʊ.vɚˈɹaɪd/

As a noun (“A mechanism, device or procedure used to counteract an…”): /ˈəʊ.vəˌɹaɪd/, /ˈoʊ.vɚˌɹaɪd/.

Override has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-override1.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-override2.wav, En-us-override.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with override?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as override from its last stressed vowel (/aɪd/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of override

  • overrides present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • overriding participle, present
  • overrode past
  • overridden participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does override mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To ride across or beyond something.

  2. 2

    To ride over the top of something, usually forcibly.

  3. 3

    To ride a horse too hard.

  4. 4

    To counteract the normal operation of something; to countermand with orders of higher priority.

    In automotive design, safety should override lesser factors such as cosmetics and corner-cutting.

  5. 5

    To give commands of a higher priority to an automated system; to take manual control of an automated system

    Manual controls allow the user to override the camera's default settings.

  6. 6

    To define a new behaviour of a method by creating the same method of the superclass with the same name and signature.

    How the cat runs is defined in the method run() of the class Cat, which overrides the same method with the same signature of superclass called Mammal.

noun

  1. 1

    A mechanism, device or procedure used to counteract an automatic control.

  2. 2

    A royalty.

  3. 3

    A device for prioritizing audio signals, such that certain signals receive priority over others.

  4. 4

    A method with the same name and signature as a method in a superclass, which runs instead of that method, when an object of the subclass is involved.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Override in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchoutrepasser (to ride across or beyond something), redéfinir ((software) To define a new behaviour of a method)
Germanüberschreiben ((software) To define a new behaviour of a method), übersteuern (to counteract the normal operation of something)
Portuguesesobrepor, contornar, anular (to counteract the normal operation of something)
Spanishhacer caso omiso de, anteponerse a (to counteract the normal operation of something)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does override come from?

From Middle English overriden, from Old English oferrīdan, equivalent to over- + ride. Cognate with Dutch overrijden, German überreiten, Danish override.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after override