outgrow

present singular third person outgrows · participle present outgrowing · past outgrew · participle past outgrown

1. figurativelyoftentransitiveTo become too big in size or too mature in age or outlook to continue to want, need, use, experience, or accept some object, practice, condition, belief, etc.

   I used to have allergies but I outgrew all of them.

   5 more examples

   Poorer children often have to wear whatever an older sibling has outgrown.

   Some people blame God for their troubles, but one must outgrow such notions.

   […]Most persons are collectors at some periods of their lives. Some outgrow the habit; with others it becomes a mania; and with still others it is a lasting habit intelligently planned as one aspect of a study of a particular subject.

   1941 January, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 48

   This was definitely to be the station, one which would cater for all needs for years to come. But it was evident within the next few years that Johannesburg would once again outgrow its newest station.

   1958 September 28, C. Alan Cook, “Johannesburg's Fourth Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 640

   “I think you've outgrown Bonnie,” he said as he drove. […] “Bonnie and I have known each other forever,” I said simply. “Doesn't mean you have to be friends forever.”

   2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN

   Synonyms: grow out of

2. transitiveTo grow faster or larger than.

   The best adapted plant varieties tend to outgrow those less adapted.