surmount

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /sɚˈmaʊnt/ UK /səˈmaʊnt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to overcome a difficulty or rise above an obstacle

She surmounted every setback on her way to the title.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to overcome a difficulty or... overcome conquer vanquish master surpass transcend clear

Opposites

succumb yield fail

Word family

Derived forms surmountablesurmountedsurmounting

Related forms mount amount paramount

Etymology

From Old French surmonter ('to rise above, overcome'), from sur- ('over', from Latin super) + monter ('to mount'), from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons ('mountain').

surmonter Old French mons Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# surmount

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /sɚˈmaʊnt/
**IPA (UK):** /səˈmaʊnt/

## Meanings
1. to overcome a difficulty or rise above an obstacle

## Examples
- She surmounted every setback on her way to the title.

## Synonyms
- overcome
- conquer
- vanquish
- master
- surpass
- transcend
- clear

## Antonyms
- succumb
- yield
- fail

## Derived Forms
- surmountable
- surmounted
- surmounting

## Related Forms
- mount
- amount
- paramount

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: surmonter
- Root: mons

## Etymology
From Old French surmonter ('to rise above, overcome'), from sur- ('over', from Latin super) + monter ('to mount'), from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons ('mountain').

## AI Etymology
Surmount comes from Old French surmonter ('to rise above, overcome'), from sur- ('over', from Latin super) + monter ('to mount'), from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons ('mountain'). The historical chain includes Old French surmonter and Latin mons. The quoted older senses, "to rise above, overcome", "over", "to mount", and "mountain", supply the semantic anchors for surmount. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word surmount carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a verb, "to overcome a difficulty or rise above an obstacle". English derivatives include surmountable, surmounted, and surmounting; related English forms include mount, amount, and paramount. The result is a verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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