1
as in to exceed
to be greater, better, or stronger than
she always tried to surpass her older brother at anything he did
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2
as in to transcend
to go beyond the limit of
the sales of the band's newest CD have surpassed the combined sales of its last two albums
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Recent Examples of surpass
The jackpot is Powerball's second-largest of all time and one of 14 times a Powerball or Mega Millions lottery jackpot reached or surpassed $1 billion or more.
—
Jennifer Sangalang, Florida Times-Union, 11 Jan. 2026
Coker, undrafted out of Holy Cross in 2024, surpassed 2024 first-round pick Xavier Legette as the WR2 in the regular-season finale at Tampa, a move that paid big dividends against the Rams.
—Joseph Person, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2026
McMillan did not surpass the 100-yard rushing mark in any of the remaining games in his rookie season.
—Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 10 Jan. 2026
Additional trial data showed that a higher dose of the pill could deliver greater efficacy – more than 15% weight loss – surpassing the results seen with the highest dose of Eli Lilly’s orforglipron.
—Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 10 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for surpass
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surpass
exceed
Verb
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After a debut season that exceeded even generous expectations, can the show do it all over again?—
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But simply getting on the long list far exceeded Alexan’s expectations.—
Cite this Entry
“Surpass.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surpass. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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