Other forms: overriding, overridden, overrode, overrides
To override is to set aside somebody else's decision using greater authority. Override the veto, override the decision, an overriding concern.
The past tense is overrode and the participle overridden. In machinery and software, an override is a manual control that takes precedence over an automatic one: a manual override. As an adjective, overriding means more important than everything else: an overriding priority, an overriding duty. Note that overriding is very common in legal and policy writing, where it names which of two obligations wins.
1verboverrideTo set aside somebody else's decision.
“The board can override the committee at any time.”
2nouncontrolA control that takes precedence over an automatic one.
“There is a manual override behind a small glass panel.”
override is a setting aside.
Old English oferridan meant literally to ride over — to trample. The word kept the image: overriding a decision is riding over it rather than arguing with it.
Old English
oferrīdan
Middle English
overriden
English, today
override
From Middle English overriden, from Old English oferrīdan, equivalent to over- + ride. Cognate with Dutch overrijden, German überreiten, Danish override.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA