OVERWRITE (overwritten, overwrote)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: overwritten    , overwrote   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overwrite mean? 

• OVERWRITE (verb)
  The verb OVERWRITE has 1 sense:

1. write new data on top of existing data and thus erase the previously existing data

  Familiarity information: OVERWRITE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVERWRITE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they overwrite    ... he / she / it overwrites   
Past simple: overwrote   
Past participle: overwritten   
-ing form: overwriting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Write new data on top of existing data and thus erase the previously existing data

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

overwrite that file

Hypernyms (to "overwrite" is one way to...):

save; write (record data on a computer)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Event in which information is unintentionally permanently or temporarily lost, deleted, corrupted, or overwritten.

(Data Corrupted Computer Software Problem Associated with Medical Device, Food and Drug Administration)