overwrite

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To destroy (older) data by recording new data over it.

   • I accidentally saved my unwanted changes and overwrote the version of the document I wanted to keep.
2. 2

   To cover in writing

   To cover in writing; to write over the top of.

3. 3

   To write too much.

4. ›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To write in an unnecessarily complicated or florid way

      To write in an unnecessarily complicated or florid way; to produce purple prose.

      • The Times of course has to pay the price of encyclopaedism by being often dreadfully overwritten, with long paragraphs connected by motley conjunctions.
      • He overwrites constantly, but his detailed and understated one-paragraph description of Monroe's apartment in New York (pp. 216-18) injects high voltage into the de casibus tradition.
   2. 5

      The operation of destroying older data by recording new data over it.

      • Tab to the number specifying the number of overwrites and enter a number between 1 and 9.

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