surmount

English

Etymology

From Middle English surmounten, from Old French surmonter (“to rise above, surmount”), from sur- (“above”) + monter (“to mount”), equivalent to sur- +‎ mount.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /səˈmaʊnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /sɚˈmaʊnt/
• Rhymes: -aʊnt

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To get or be over without touching or resting on; to overcome.
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 10:

     this difficulty may perhaps be surmounted by care and art

   • 1960, Yehezkel Kaufmann, “Chapter II: Pagan Religion”, in Moshe Greenberg, transl., The Religion of Israel, University of Chicago, →OCLC, page 23:

     There are two realms: that of divine powers, another of the metadivine.¹ Even the gods are depicted as calling upon metadivine forces to surmount their own predestined limitations.

   • 1995, Study on Legislation Related to Regulations Organs in the Field of Broadcasting in West Africa:

     Burkina Fasoan legislation surmounts one more step which sees in the organ created in this country and designated as the Superior Council of Information (S.C.I.), " an administrative authority".

2. (transitive) To cap; to sit on top of.
   • 1951 April, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes: London Midland Region”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 283:

     The boiler had a large dome over the firebox, inside the cab, surmounted by Ramsbottom safety valves.

   • 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)

• Bulgarian: преодолявам (bg) (preodoljavam), превъзмогвам (bg) (prevǎzmogvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 克服 (zh) (kèfú)

• Czech: překonat (cs)
• Dutch: overwinnen (nl)
• Finnish: voittaa (fi), jättää jotain taakseen, päästä jonkin yli
• French: surmonter (fr)
• German: überwinden (de)
• Greek: υπερνικώ (el) (ypernikó), ξεπερνώ (el) (xepernó), υπερβαίνω (el) (ypervaíno)
• Hungarian: leküzd (hu), legyőz (hu), áthidal (hu), felülkerekedik (hu), úrrá lesz (hu)
• Japanese: 乗り越える (ja) (のりこえる, norikoeru)
• Latin: superō, ēluctor
• Middle English: surmounten
• 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.

Middle English

Verb

surmount

1. Alternative form of surmounten