different between overwrite vs adapt

English

Etymology

From over- +? write.

Pronunciation

Verb

overwrite (third-person singular simple present overwrites, present participle overwriting, simple past overwrote, past participle overwritten)

1. (transitive, computing) 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. (transitive) To cover in writing; to write over the top of.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To write too much.
   • 2013, Richard Rudin, Trevor Ibbotson, Introduction to Journalism

     Many trainees consider that by increasing the length of the piece they will construct a good feature. This is often not the case and overwriting can lead to vague and muddled features that confuse the reader and ultimately lose their interest.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To write in an unnecessarily complicated or florid way; to produce purple prose.
   • 1954, Edwin H. Ford, Edwin Emery, Highlights in the History of the American Press: A Book of Readings, U of Minnesota Press ?ISBN, page 367

     The Times of course has to pay the price of encyclopaedism by being often dreadfully overwritten, with long paragraphs connected by motley conjunctions.

   • 1986, David Novarr, The Lines of Life: Theories of Biography, 1880-1970, Purdue University Press ?ISBN, page 162

     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.

   • 1989, Michael O'Neill, The human mind's imaginings: conflict and achievement in Shelley's poetry, Oxford University Press, USA

     That said, the passage just looked at anticipates rather than participates in greatness. It is too adjectival, a stylistic flaw which suggests an insistence more apparent in the ensuing lines (182-91), where one is torn between thinking that Shelley is overwriting and that he is staying close to a feverish intensity.

Translations

Noun

overwrite (plural overwrites)

1. (computing) The operation of destroying older data by recording new data over it.

English

Etymology

From Middle French adapter, from Latin adaptare (“to fit to”), from ad (“to”) + aptare (“to make fit”), from aptus (“fit”); see apt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??dæpt/
• Rhymes: -æpt

Verb

adapt (third-person singular simple present adapts, present participle adapting, simple past and past participle adapted)

1. (transitive) To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit

   Synonym: proportion

2. (transitive) To fit by alteration; to modify or remodel for a different purpose; to adjust

3. (transitive) To make by altering or fitting something else; to produce by change of form or character

4. (intransitive) To make oneself comfortable to a new thing.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

adapt (comparative more adapt, superlative most adapt)

1. Adapted; fit; suited; suitable.
   • c. 1709, Jonathan Swift, Merlin's Prophecy

     This prediction, though somewhat obscure, is wonderfully adapt.

Translations

References

• adapt in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• APDTA

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??dap(t)/

Verb

adapt (third-person singular present adapts, present participle adaptin, past adaptit, past participle adaptit)

1. to adapt

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.