outnumber
part of speech
verb (outnumber, outnumbers, outnumbered, outnumbering)
meaning for a pupil
To outnumber means to be more in number. If girls outnumber boys, there are more girls than boys. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: a comparison: one group is bigger than another, often by a given amount (outnumber by 4) or by a ratio (outnumber 3 to 1); bigger = smaller + difference. In stories and history: the army was outnumbered but still won. Phrases: outnumber by, outnumber … to …, be outnumbered.
examples
- Girls outnumber boys by 4 in the class. tree →
- Cats outnumber dogs 3 to 1. tree →
- If there are 12 boys and girls outnumber them by 5, how many girls? tree →
- The red cars outnumber the blue ones. tree →
- In our town, bikes outnumber cars. tree →
- The small team was outnumbered but did not give up. tree →
- Ants outnumber people by far. tree →
- At the party adults were outnumbered by children. tree →
- Jupiter, seeing that Mankind, the only rational creatures, were far outnumbered by the irrational beasts, bade him redress the balance by turning some of the latter into men. tree →
note
«Out-» means more than, as in outrun, outgrow. Compares two groups: bigger = smaller + difference. Trap: «outnumber 3 to 1» means 3 times as many, not 3 more. Trap: «A outnumber B» means A is the bigger group.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «outnumber» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.