outgrow

English

Etymology

From out- +‎ grow.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌaʊtˈɡɹəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɑʊtˈɡɹoʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊ

Verb

outgrow (third-person singular simple present outgrows, present participle outgrowing, simple past outgrew, past participle outgrown)

1. (transitive, often figurative) To become too big in size or too mature in age or outlook to continue to want, need, use, experience, or accept some object, practice, condition, belief, etc.

   Poorer children often have to wear whatever an older sibling has outgrown.

   I used to have allergies but I outgrew all of them.

   Some people blame God for their troubles, but one must outgrow such notions.

   • 1941 January, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 48:

     […] Most persons are collectors at some periods of their lives. Some outgrow the habit; with others it becomes a mania; and with still others it is a lasting habit intelligently planned as one aspect of a study of a particular subject.

   • 2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

     “I think you've outgrown Bonnie,” he said as he drove. […] “Bonnie and I have known each other forever,” I said simply. “Doesn't mean you have to be friends forever.”

2. (transitive) To grow faster or larger than.

   The best adapted plant varieties tend to outgrow those less adapted.

Synonyms

• grow out of

Derived terms

• outgrowth

Translations

to become too big or mature for some object, practice, condition, belief, etc

• Bulgarian: надраствам (bg) (nadrastvam)
• Dutch: ontgroeien (nl), (Archaic) ontwassen
• Finnish: kasvaa ulos, kasvaa pois
• French: dépasser (fr)
• Hungarian: kinő (hu)
• Italian: superare (it)
• Polish: wyrastać (pl)
• Portuguese: superar (pt)

to grow faster or taller than someone or something else

• Dutch: ontgroeien (nl)
• Finnish: kasvaa nopeammin, kasvaa isommaksi
• Italian: superare (it)
• Polish: przerastać, przerosnąć pf

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} aus (etwas) herauswachsen
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} crecer más que
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} thành cao hơn (1), ^{(please verify)} bỏ (vi) (2)

References

• “outgrow”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “outgrow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• grow out