surpass

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French surpasser (“to go beyond, exceed, excel”),^[2][3][4][5] formed in Old French from sur- (“above, beyond”) and passer (“to pass”).^[2][6][7] In Old French the verb meant "to transgress".^[7] The French verb passer is from Vulgar Latin *passō (“to step, pass”), from passus (“step, pace”),^[4][7] and is also the source of pass.^[4][8] The OED compares an Italian verb of the same formation, sorpassare, now obsolete.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To go beyond another in degree or quality; to excel or exceed: before 1555, in J. Bradford.^[9] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1555.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense "to excel, outdo" has been the main one from the start.^[9][2] Other senses soon followed: to overstep a limit or a period of time (1588, in Kyd's translation of Tasso), now archaic;^[9][8] to be beyond the reach or understanding of someone (1592);^[9] to go beyond something already done (1593, in Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis);^[9] and to rise above or extend beyond something physically (1601), now rare.^[9][8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to excel; to exceed; to go beyond in excellence", quoting The Winter's Tale.^[10] The participle surpassing was used as an adjective, "excelling", and in older verse also as an adverb, like exceeding, as in the hymn line "Surpassing clear and fine".^[4][11] The phrase surpass oneself means to do even better than before.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1555 – to exceed or excel another.^[9]
• 1588 – to go beyond a limit (now archaic).^[9]
• 1592 – to be beyond the reach or capacity of.^[9]
• 1593 – to go beyond something done or existing.^[9]
• 1601 – to extend above or beyond (now rare).^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be better or greater than; to excel or outdo: The young pianist soon surpassed her teacher.^[12][3][9]
2. To go beyond in amount or degree; to exceed: Sales surpassed every forecast.^[12][3][9]
3. To be beyond the reach or capacity of; to transcend: a mystery that surpasses understanding.^[12][9][8]
4. (archaic) To pass beyond or overstep a limit.^[9][8][3]

Word family

• surpassable
• surpasser
• unsurpassed

Related words

• pass
• pace

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins