surmount

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French surmonter (“to rise above, surmount”), from sur- (“above”) + monter (“to mount”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈmaʊnt/
• IPA^(key): /sɚˈmaʊnt/

Verb

surmount (third-person singular simple present surmounts, present participle surmounting, simple past and past participle surmounted)

1. (transitive) To get over; to overcome.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 10.

     this difficulty may perhaps be surmounted by care and art

2. (transitive) To cap; to sit on top off.
   • 2007, Robert Chitham, The Classical Orders of Architecture, →ISBN:

     The ovolo surmounting the dentil course generally turns the corner by means of a carved acanthus leaf, the decorated cyma and cyma reversa being similarly treated at the corner.

Related terms

• surmountable
• insurmountable

Translations

to get over; to overcome

• Arabic: هَزَمَ (hazama), تَغَلَّبَ (taḡallaba), قَهَر (qahar)

  Egyptian Arabic: غلب (ġalab), هزم (hazam)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 克服 (zh) (kèfú)

• Czech: překonat
• Dutch: overwinnen (nl)
• Finnish: voittaa (fi), jättää jotain taakseen, päästä jonkin yli
• French: surmonter (fr)
• German: überwinden (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: υπερνικώ (el) (ypernikó), ξεπερνώ (el) (xepernó), υπερβαίνω (el) (ypervaíno)
• Japanese: 乗り越える (のりこえる, norikoeru)
• Latin: superō, ēluctor
• Norwegian: overvinne (no)
• Portuguese: superar (pt)
• Russian: преодолева́ть (ru) impf (preodolevátʹ), преодоле́ть (ru) pf (preodolétʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: nadvísiti (sh), prebròditi (sh), prevládati (sh)
• Swedish: överstiga (sv)
• Turkish: aşmak (tr)

Further reading

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