override

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Verb:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊvəˈɹaɪd/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /oʊvəˈɹaɪd/
• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəˌɹaɪd/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊvəˌɹaɪd/

Verb

override (third-person singular simple present overrides, present participle overriding, simple past overrode, past participle overridden)

1. To ride across or beyond something.
2. To ride a horse too hard.
3. To counteract the normal operation of something.

   The Congress promptly overrode the president's veto, passing the bill into law.

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell, chapter 6, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     The needs of the windmill must override everything else, he said.

4. (object-oriented programming) 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.

Usage notes

• The form overrode is sometimes used as a past participle, in place of the standard overridden.

Translations

to ride across or beyond something

• French: outrepasser (fr)

to ride a horse too hard

• Dutch: afjakkeren

• Japanese: 酷使する (ja) (kokushi suru)

to counteract the normal operation of something

• French: outrepasser (fr)
• Georgian: დაძლევა (daʒleva) (verbal noun), დაძლევს (daʒlevs) (infinitive)
• Japanese: 覆す (kutsugaesu)

• Norwegian: motvirke, overstyre
• Portuguese: sobrepor (pt)
• Swedish: åsidosätta

(software) To define a new behaviour of a method

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 重写 (zh) (chóngxiě)

• French: redéfinir (fr)

• Georgian: გადაფარვა (gadaparva)
• German: überschreiben (de)
• Portuguese: sobrepor (pt)

See also

• (programming): overload

Noun

override (plural overrides)

1. A mechanism, device or procedure used to counteract an automatic control.
2. A royalty.
3. A device for prioritizing audio signals, such that certain signals receive priority over others.

Translations

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

• Japanese: オーバーライド (ōbāraido)

• Tamil: ரத்து செய்தல் (rattu ceytal)

A royalty

• Japanese: 優先 (ja) (yūsen), 優待 (ja) (yūtai)

A device for prioritizing audio signals