Meanings
- From a historic or evolutionary perspective.
"This graph shows the population of California over time."
- Occurring gradually, as the time passes.
It also appears that the older with less education score initially better than the young with higher education, but over time, the young appear to surpass them.
2008, Can Attachment Explain Individual Differences in Cognitive Functioning Over Time?: Results from a 12-year Cohort-sequential Study, ProQuest, →ISBN, page 261 more example
There are surely relationships in which romantic passion dies over time; the price of abandoning them is often less than the price of endless years spent in resuscitation efforts.
2003, Stephen A. Mitchell, Can Love Last?: The Fate of Romance over Time, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 55Synonyms: into time
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseOccurring gradually, as the time passes.
Translations
Danish over tid, efterhånden
- over tidwith respect to the passage of time
- efterhåndengradually, as time passes
- med tidengradually, as time passes
Finnish ajan saatossa, ajan saatossa
- ajan saatossawith respect to the passage of time
- ajan saatossagradually, as time passes
- ajan mittaangradually, as time passes
French avec le temps, avec le temps
- avec le tempswith respect to the passage of time
- avec le tempsgradually, as time passes
Hindi समय के साथ
- समय के साथ (samay ke sāth)with respect to the passage of time
Hungarian az idő függvényében, idővel
- az idő függvényébenwith respect to the passage of time
- idővelgradually, as time passes
- az idők sorángradually, as time passes
Italian col tempo, con l'andare del tempo
- col tempowith respect to the passage of time
- con l'andare del tempowith respect to the passage of time
Japanese やがて
- やがて (yagate)with respect to the passage of time
Polish w czasie, z biegiem czasu
- w czasiewith respect to the passage of time
- z biegiem czasugradually, as time passes
- z czasemgradually, as time passes
Portuguese com o tempo, com o passar do tempo
- com o tempogradually, as time passes
- com o passar do tempogradually, as time passes
Russian со вре́менем
- со вре́менем (so vrémenem)gradually, as time passes
Spanish a lo largo del tiempo, a través del tiempo
- a lo largo del tiempowith respect to the passage of time
- a través del tiempowith respect to the passage of time
- andando el tiempogradually, as time passes
- con el tiempogradually, as time passes
- a medida que el tiempo transcurregradually, as time passes
- conforme transcurre el tiempogradually, as time passes
Swedish med tiden
- med tidenwith respect to the passage of time
Cite this entry
over time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/over%20time
“over time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/over%20time. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “over time,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/over%20time.
Source: over time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.