surpass

«surpass» in Mova's school dictionary: to be better or greater than someone or something: she… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (surpass, surpasses, surpassed, surpassing)

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To surpass is to be better or greater than someone or something: she surpassed her own best score. tree →

2) (formal) To surpass is to go beyond what was expected or hoped: the result surpassed our hopes. tree →

sense in the lessons

Formal and exam voice; in sports and school, to surpass a record or a target. In maths, «the sales surpassed 500» means they became more than 500. Plain words: beat, do better than, be more than, go over.

examples

• Her score surpassed everyone else's in the class. tree →
• The tower surpassed all the other buildings in height. tree →
• The school fair surpassed our hopes and raised lots of money. tree →
• He surpassed his personal best in the 100 metres. tree →
• The film surpassed all the others in ticket sales. tree →
• If the class raises 300 pounds, it will surpass its goal of 250. tree →
• No one could surpass him in depth of feeling or in readiness of intellect. tree →

note

Formal; in speech say «beat» or «be more than». It is followed directly by an object: «surpass the record», not «surpass over the record». In maths, «surpass 50» means «more than 50» (greater, not equal).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «surpass» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.