out-Byzantine

verb

To appear to be a more subtle negotiator than; to outsmart.

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Meanings

verbout-Byzantine (third-person singular simple present out-Byzantines, present participle out-Byzantining, simple past and past participle out-Byzantined)

present singular third person out-Byzantines · participle present out-Byzantining · participle past out-Byzantined · past out-Byzantined

  1. transitiveTo appear to be a more subtle negotiator than; to outsmart.

    Although Ambassador Korry had admonished the president that “trying to out-Byzantine” the emperor “would be futile and counterproductive” and that Kennedy therefore should “spell out details of the U.S. program and justification from the start,” Washington tried to outsmart HIM […]

    2011, Theodore Vestal, The Lion of Judah in the New World, page 127

Origin

From out- + Byzantine.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

out-Byzantine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out-Byzantine

MLA

“out-Byzantine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out-Byzantine. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “out-Byzantine,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out-Byzantine.

Source: out-Byzantine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.