Overcoming

How to spell overcoming

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce overcoming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overcoming mean?

1. verbIn the process of successfully dealing with or prevailing over a difficulty, obstacle, or feeling.

Overcoming in a sentence

• She spoke openly about overcoming her fear of public speaking.

• Overcoming the language barrier took months of patient study.

Where does overcoming come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English verb 'ofercuman', formed from 'ofer' meaning 'over, above, beyond' and 'cuman' meaning 'to come'. The literal sense was to come over or get on top of something, which naturally extended to the idea of mastering, defeating, or prevailing against an obstacle or opponent. The native Germanic root 'cuman' is the direct ancestor of the everyday verb 'come', and the prefix 'ofer' survives as our modern 'over', so the spelling is entirely transparent once you see the two familiar pieces joined together. The participle and gerund form 'overcoming' simply adds the '-ing' suffix to 'overcome', and crucially the silent 'e' of 'come' is dropped before that ending, which is the one small spelling decision the writer has to remember. The figurative meaning of conquering difficulties has been steady in English for over a thousand years.

How the word is built

• over- (prefix: above, beyond)
• come (root: to move toward)
• -ing (verb/gerund suffix)