MEANING
1. Be more important or influential than a competing consideration.
2. Weigh more than another object or person.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- benefits outweigh costs
- outweigh a concern
On the page
The expected benefits did not outweigh the costs.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- outweigh
- Past tense
- outweighed
- Past participle
- outweighed
- Present participle
- outweighing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- outweigh
- Present continuous
- am/is/are outweighing
- Present perfect
- have/has outweighed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been outweighing
- Past
- outweighed
- Past continuous
- was/were outweighing
- Past perfect
- had outweighed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been outweighing
- Future
- will outweigh
- Future continuous
- will be outweighing
- Future perfect
- will have outweighed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been outweighing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: outweigh; outweighs; outweighed; outweighed; outweighing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation, evaluation. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: outweighs.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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