override.

1. To use authority to reject or replace a decision, rule, or instruction that would otherwise apply.

2. To be more important than another consideration and therefore determine which choice is made.

3. To take control of a system so that its usual automatic operation no longer determines what happens.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• override a decision
• override a veto
• override the normal rule

On the page

The panel lacked the authority to override the examiner’s decision.

Emergency powers allowed the executive to override ordinary consultation requirements.

The article asks whether public safety can override a presumption of individual choice.

A desire for simplicity should not override the need to represent uncertainty accurately.

The protocol permits reviewers to override the automatic classification when a documented exception applies.

Usage notes

Third-person overrides; simple past overrode; past participle overridden; present participle overriding. Also countable noun override/overrides. Adjectival overriding means taking precedence; not counted separately. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).