override
override — verb
1. to use higher authority to replace an earlier decision, order, or refusal
to use higher authority to replace an earlier decision, order, or refusal
The judge overrode the earlier order and reopened the case.
override + order by higher authority
After hearing both teams, the principal overrode the referee's ban.
Parliament overrode the president's veto after a late-night vote.
common object: override a veto
The senior editor overrode my choice of headline before print.
- override a decision
- override an order
- override a veto
- override a ruling
- uphold
to keep a decision or ruling in force
Grammar Patterns
override a decision
override an order
override a veto
Usage Note
The subject is usually a person or group with formal power, and the object is often a decision, order, veto, or judgment. Distinguish from sense 4, where one factor matters more than another and no official ruling is being replaced.
Common Mistakes
2. to matter more than something else and therefore come first
to matter more than something else and therefore come first
Safety rules must override speed when children are crossing.
subject is a rule or principle
In summer, public health concerns overrode plans for the music festival.
For Mia, family needs overrode every weekend work invitation.
At the hospital, patient care overrides all arguments about cost.
override + competing concern
- override safety
- override concerns
- override plans
- override cost worries
- outweigh
focuses on one factor having greater value or effect
- take precedence over
a formal phrase often used in rules or policy
- trump
informal and often stronger in tone
- yield to
to give way to a stronger need or rule
Grammar Patterns
override safety
override plans
override concerns about cost
Usage Note
The subject is usually an idea such as safety, duty, need, or public concern, not a person using official power. Distinguish from sense 1, where someone with authority changes an earlier decision.
Common Mistakes
3. to stop an automatic control and run the machine yourself instead
to stop an automatic control and run the machine yourself instead
When smoke filled the kitchen, Rosa overrode the alarm system.
override an automatic system
The pilot overrode the autopilot during the rough landing.
override the autopilot
A mechanic overrode the lift after the door sensor failed.
During the test, Jin overrode the machine's timer by hand.
common phrase: by hand
- override the autopilot
- override the alarm
- override the timer
- override by hand
- automate
to make a process run by itself rather than by human control
Grammar Patterns
override the autopilot
override the alarm system
override by hand
Usage Note
The object is usually something that normally runs by itself, such as an alarm, timer, sensor, or autopilot. Distinguish from sense 3, which is about taking wider control of a system rather than interrupting one automatic function.
Common Mistakes
4. to take charge of a system or organization and make it work your way
to take charge of a system or organization and make it work your way
Within hours, the hackers overrode the city's phone network.
override a network
New managers overrode the old payment system after the merger.
During the uprising, rebel troops overrode radio stations across the capital.
Army officers overrode the national radio service after the coup.
forceful takeover of public media
- override a network
- override a system
- override local control
- override the old system
- relinquish
to give up control
Grammar Patterns
override a network
override a system
override local control
Usage Note
Often used when one group, force, or central office takes control of a larger system and changes how it operates. Distinguish from sense 2, which usually refers to briefly interrupting an automatic feature by hand.
Common Mistakes
5. to keep travelling on a bus or train beyond the distance your ticket covers
to keep travelling on a bus or train beyond the distance your ticket covers
We overrode by two stops on our cheap day pass.
intransitive: override by + number of stops
The tourists overrode and paid extra when the conductor checked tickets.
Ken overrode by one zone on his airport bus ticket.
Three fans overrode on cheap return tickets after the concert.
override on + ticket type
- override by two stops
- override on a day pass
- override on train tickets
- travel beyond your ticket
a plain explanatory phrase rather than a fixed single-word synonym
- go past the paid limit
stresses the ticket distance rather than your intended stop
- get off in time
to leave the bus or train within the paid distance
Grammar Patterns
override by + number of stops
override on + ticket/pass
Usage Note
This sense is intransitive and appears in transport contexts, often with by plus a number of stops or on plus the kind of ticket. It refers to going beyond the paid distance, not simply missing your stop.
Common Mistakes
override — noun
1. a control that lets a person take over when a machine is meant to run automatica
a control that lets a person take over when a machine is meant to run automatically
Press the override if the sliding door will not open.
press the override
A red override let staff stop the machine at once.
During the storm, the engineer used the override on the pump.
The lift has a manual override behind the locked panel.
manual override
- manual override
- press the override
- override switch
- emergency override
- backup control
a broad phrase for a secondary way to control a machine
- manual control
focuses on human control, not necessarily the specific switch itself
- emergency switch
used when the control is for urgent situations
- automatic control
a system that runs by itself without human takeover
Grammar Patterns
press the override
manual override
override on a machine
Usage Note
Often follows manual, emergency, or safety and usually names a button, switch, or control on equipment. Distinguish from noun sense 2, which is a political act rather than a physical device.
Common Mistakes
2. an act by elected lawmakers of rejecting a leader's veto or refusal
an act by elected lawmakers of rejecting a leader's veto or refusal
The Senate passed an override after the governor rejected the bill.
pass an override
Lawmakers failed to win an override of the president's veto.
override of a veto
News of the override filled the state capitol with cheers.
Two Republicans joined Democrats to secure the override vote.
override vote
- override of a veto
- pass an override
- override vote
- win an override
- veto reversal
a plain descriptive phrase for the same political action
- rejection of the veto
clear but less compact than override in political news
- veto
the leader's act that lawmakers are trying to reverse
Grammar Patterns
an override of a veto
pass an override
override vote
Usage Note
This sense belongs to American political reporting and is especially common with veto, vote, and pass. Distinguish from noun sense 1, which refers to a control on a machine.
Common Mistakes
Word family
- overridingadjectiveC1
Synonym discussion
Sense: verb/1
For verb sense 1, override is used when a person or body with higher authority replaces an earlier decision. Overrule is the closest match and is especially common for judges, managers, and officials rejecting another person's ruling. Overturn often appears in law or politics and suggests a stronger public reversal, sometimes of a long-standing rule. Reverse is broader and can describe any change back to an earlier position, even without clear power relations. Cancel is weaker and less exact because it often means simply stopping a plan or event. A judge can overrule an objection, a court can overturn a ruling, and a manager can override a team decision.
Etymology
Override is a compound of over and ride. It first referred to riding over something, with the idea of going across or pressing down from above. English later extended that image to less literal meanings, such as using higher power to replace a decision, taking control from an automatic system, or letting one need come before another.