What does outdid mean?
Outdid is the past tense of outdo, meaning to do better than someone or something else. It commonly describes outperforming a rival, exceeding an expectation or target, or achieving a more impressive result than a previous example. The word can apply to people, teams, organizations, products, performances, and records, as in outdid the competition or outdid expectations. Its use often carries a note of strong achievement rather than a slight advantage. For example, a performer who receives more applause than a previous star has outdone that performer, while a project that produces more value than expected has outdone its forecast. The related past participle is outdone, so a sentence may say a team outdid its rivals and therefore has outdone them. Outdid is widely used in British and American English and is suitable in formal reports as well as ordinary conversation.
verbPast tense of outdo: to do better than someone or something else, especially in performance, achievement, or competition.
- To do better than another person or thing in an activity, competition, achievement, or comparison.
"Her innovative research outdid the expectations of the entire team."
"The small team outdid larger companies in the final round."
"Her second novel outdid the sales of her debut."
Outdid is the past tense of a phrase that literally means doing someone else out: succeeding so convincingly that you leave them behind.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does outdid come from?
The word comes from outdo, formed from the Germanic prefix out-, meaning beyond or to a greater extent, together with do. The form is recorded in English in the early 17th century, with the past tense outdid and past participle outdone. The same broad idea appears in cognates such as German übertreffen and Dutch overdoen, all expressing doing more than or better than something else.
Related word forms
How outdid is actually used
Outdid is the simple past tense of outdo; outdone is the past participle. It is common in both formal and informal English, though formal writing often prefers surpassed, exceeded, or was more successful than.
Easily confused with outdid
Outdid means surpassed or did better than something, whereas undid means reversed or undid an action.