Overriding

How to spell overriding

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce overriding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overriding mean?

1. adjectiveMore important than anything else; taking priority over all other considerations.
2. verbPresent participle of override: cancelling or setting aside a decision, rule, or automatic setting by using greater authority.

Overriding in a sentence

• adjective

  Safety was the overriding concern during the factory inspection.

• verb

  The manager kept overriding the team's recommendations without explanation.

• adjective

  Her overriding ambition was to pay off the mortgage before retiring.

• verb

  The thermostat has a manual switch for overriding the automatic schedule.

Where does overriding come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from two pieces of native English stock. The prefix comes from Old English 'ofer', meaning 'above' or 'beyond', and the core is the verb 'ride', from Old English 'ridan', meaning 'to travel on horseback' or 'to be carried along'. The compound verb 'override' first meant quite literally to ride over or trample something with a horse, and from the 1600s onward it took on the figurative sense of trampling over an objection, a rule, or another person's decision. From that the present participle 'overriding' developed into an adjective describing a concern so dominant that it rides over everything else. The doubled 'r' that catches writers out is simply the meeting point of the prefix 'over' and the word 'ride', so picturing those two whole words joined together is the surest way to remember the spelling.

How the word is built

• over- (above, beyond)
• ride (to ride, control)
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)