Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense overlaps, present participle overlapping, past tense, past participle overlappedpronunciation note: The verb is pronounced (oʊvəʳlæp). The noun is pronounced (oʊvəʳlæp).
1. verb
If one thing overlaps another, or if you overlap them, a part of the first thing occupies the same area as a part of the other thing. You can also say that two things overlap.
When the bag is folded flat, the bag bottom overlaps one side of the bag. [VERB noun]
Overlap the slices carefully so there are no gaps. [VERB noun]
Use vinyl seam adhesive where vinyls overlap. [VERB]
The edges must overlap each other or weeds will push through the gaps. [VERB noun]
...neat overlapping circles. [VERB-ing]
2. verb
If one idea or activity overlaps another, or overlaps with another, they involve some of the same subjects, people, or periods of time.
Elizabeth met other Oxford intellectuals, some of whom overlapped Naomi's world. [VERB noun]
Christian Holy Week overlaps with the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. [VERB + with]
The needs of patients invariably overlap. [VERB]
Their life-spans overlapped by six years. [plural-noun VERB]
Overlap is also a noun.
...the overlap between civil and military technology. [+ between]
We may begin to discover overlaps.
overlap in British English
verb (ˌəʊvəˈlæp)Word forms: -laps, -lapping or -lapped
1.
(of two things) to extend or lie partly over (each other)
2.
to cover and extend beyond (something)
3. (intransitive)
to coincide partly in time, subject, etc
noun (ˈəʊvəˌlæp)
4.
a part that overlaps or is overlapped
5.
the amount, length, etc, overlapping
6.
the act or fact of overlapping
7.
a place of overlapping
8. geology
the horizontal extension of the upper beds in a series of rock strata beyond the lower beds, usually caused by submergence of the land
overlap in American English
(ˌoʊvərˈlæp; also, and for n. always, ˈoʊvərˌlæp)
verb transitive, verb intransitiveWord forms: ˌoverˈlapped or ˌoverˈlapping
1.
to lap over; lie upon and extend beyond a part of (something or each other)
2.
to extend over part of (a period of time, sphere of activity, etc.); coincide in part (with)
noun
3.
an overlapping
4.
a part that overlaps
5.
the amount or extent of overlapping
6.
the place of overlapping
Examples of 'overlap' in a sentence
overlap
Perhaps the most obvious overlap between the world of espionage and business is in the arena of security.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Despite the potential colour clash of purple with red or orange, the flowering times rarely overlap.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The ICT project review will feed into two overlapping phases.
Computing (2010)
And of course it is, by more than 300 charities that often overlap confusingly.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The lack of overlap between the two companies makes antitrust problems unlikely, although it also limits cost synergies from crunching the two businesses together to $400 million.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It helps that my friends are fashion designers, filmmakers and chefs: there is so little overlap with any of our work that we rarely talk about it.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
There is little overlap in the two networks.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
You need to recognize there will often be overlap.
Christianity Today (2000)
He suggests further work to reduce overlap with areas such as policing and health.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
There was a substantial degree of overlap between the two skeleton arguments.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
For much of the time they overlapped.
Hebblethwaite, Peter Paul VI - The First Modern Pope (1993)
Is there creative overlap between their worlds?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
There is little or no overlap between the two volumes.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
This was particularly curious because the subject matter of the two movements often overlapped.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
There is an overlap between the two anyway.
The Sun (2015)
He was taken there because of a disastrous overlap of world history and his own.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Some of their ideas overlap with the western canon but there is much that is also distinctive and intriguing.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Clearly there are overlaps in the times on some of the claims and this is what is so disappointing.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
There will be inevitably be overlap areas but dealing with these should be a matter of education rather than discipline.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
His ideas were constant and overlapping.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Then push the other half in the mould so that the two halves overlap slightly and completely line the base and sides.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Line a 2-litre pudding basin with clingfilm and cover its base and sides with overlapping brioche slices.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Use larger pictures behind smaller ones, and overlap some of the pieces.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The police thought this could have coincided, or overlapped partly, with the offences.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
There is not a single, simple explanation for this abject failure, but a series of overlapping factors.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In other languages
overlap
British English: overlap VERB
If one thing overlaps another, or if you overlap them, a part of the first thing occupies the same area as a part of the other thing. You can also say that two things overlap.
When the bag is folded, the bottom overlaps one side.