outnumber

O1U1T1N1U1M3B3E1R1
/aʊtˈnʌmbə(ɹ)/

verb

To be more in number than somebody or something.

“Women outnumbered men by two to one.”

Less commonScrabble 13

Meanings

verboutnumber (third-person singular simple present outnumbers, present participle outnumbering, simple past and past participle outnumbered)

present singular third person outnumbers · participle present outnumbering · participle past outnumbered · past outnumbered

  1. stativetransitiveTo be more in number than somebody or something.

    Women outnumbered men by two to one.

    5 more examples

    There are 105 D.B. Type "23" engines and they were intended to replace the famous Prussian "P8" class 4-6-0s (Type "38"), but dieselisation prevented further construction and they are greatly outnumbered by the thousand or so "P8s" which are still in service and which can be seen on a great variety of duties.

    1960 September 28, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railways: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 553

    Vastly outnumbering the Jews, Palestinian Arabs during the period after the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate always refused anything that would compromise their dominance.

    1999 January 10, Edward Said, “The One-State Solution”, in The New York Times Magazine, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2022

    When reports surfaced early this summer that our contractors in Iraq (180,000, of whom some 48,000 are believed to be security personnel) now outnumber our postsurge troop strength, we yawned.

    2007 October 14, Frank Rich, “The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 06 Oct 2022

    The striking aspect of clinicide is the scale of suspicious deaths with which it is associated, which outnumbers proven murders by an order of magnitude (in [Harold] Shipman's case, a factor of (240-15)#47;15#61;15), a figure that only hints at the enormous interpersonal disruption and family grief which follows in its wake.

    2013, Brian Hurwitz, “Healthcare Serial Killings: Was the Case of Dr Harold Shipman Unthinkable?”, in Danielle Griffiths, Andrew Sanders, editors, Bioethics, Medicine and the Criminal Law (Cambridge Bioethics and Law), volumes 2 (Medicine, Crime and Society), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 19

    The group assembled in Romare Bearden Park shortly after 6 p.m., just barely outnumbering a dozen city police officers stationed in clusters around the area’s edge. The crowd grew to more than 50 people within the hour, many draped in keffiyehs and hoisting Palestinian flags high above their heads.

    2025 June 27, Lila Hempel-Edgers, Damenica Ellis, “Protesters gathered in uptown Charlotte to oppose Trump bombing of Iran sites”, in The Charlotte Observer, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2026, Politics & Government

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úd
  2. Proto-Germanic*ūt
  3. Proto-Germanic*ūt-
  4. Old Englishūt-
  5. Middle Englishut-
  6. Englishout-
  7. Latinnumerus
  8. Anglo-Normannoumbre
  9. Middle Englishnombre
  10. Englishnumber
  11. Englishoutnumber

From out- + number.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian превъзхождам числено
  • превъзхождам числено (prevăzhoždam čisleno)be more in number
Chinese Mandarin 超過 /超过
  • 超過 /超过 (chāoguò)be more in number
Czech přečíslit
  • přečíslitbe more in number
Dutch in de meerderheid zijn
  • in de meerderheid zijnbe more in number
French être en supériorité numérique
  • être en supériorité numériquebe more in number
German in der Überzahl/Mehrzahl sein, zahlenmäßig überlegen sein
  • in der Überzahl/Mehrzahl seinbe more in number
  • zahlenmäßig überlegen seinbe more in number
Hungarian felülmúl, meghalad
  • felülmúlbe more in number
  • meghaladbe more in number
Polish but see liczny, przewaga liczebna
  • but see licznybe more in number
  • przewaga liczebnabe more in number
Portuguese exceder em número, disparidade
  • exceder em númerobe more in number
  • disparidadebe more in number
Russian превосходи́ть численно, превосходи́ть численностью
  • превосходи́ть численно (prevosxodítʹ čislenno)be more in number
  • превосходи́ть численностью (prevosxodítʹ čislennostʹju)be more in number
  • превосходи́ть количеством (prevosxodítʹ količestvom)be more in number
  • численно превыша́ть (čislenno prevyšátʹ)be more in number
Spanish superar en número a, ser más que
  • superar en número abe more in number
  • ser más quebe more in number
  • superar numéricamente abe more in number
Cite this entry
APA

outnumber. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outnumber

MLA

“outnumber.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outnumber. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “outnumber,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outnumber.

Source: outnumber on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.