outclass

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úd

Proto-Germanic *ūt

Proto-Germanic *ūt-

Old English ūt-

Middle English ut-

English out-

Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁-der.

Proto-Italic *klāssis

Latin classisder.

Middle French classebor.

English class

English outclass

From out- + class.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʊtˈklæs/, /aʊtˈklɑːs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æs, -ɑːs

Verb

outclass (third-person singular simple present outclasses, present participle outclassing, simple past and past participle outclassed)

1. (transitive) to surpass something or somebody else, so as to appear to be in a higher class

   In the IQ test, he outclassed all the other applicants.

   • 1940 December, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 639:

     The 7th and 8th classes are identical with the Cape engines placed in service at the turn of the century, and are now outclassed for main line work but are used for shunting at the large depots and on one or two of the branch lines.

   • 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 January 2013:

     The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek.

Translations

To surpass something

• Bulgarian: надминавам (bg) (nadminavam), превъзхождам (bg) (prevăzhoždam)
• French: surclasser (fr)
• German: deklassieren (de)
• Italian: surclassare
• Norwegian: utklasse
• Spanish: superar (es)