overhauled; overhauling; overhauls
Synonyms of overhaulnext

transitive verb

1
a
: to examine thoroughly
Our systems of education are being constantly overhauled …—Saturday Rev.
b(1)
: repair
The mechanic overhauled the engine.
(2)
: to renovate, remake, revise, or renew thoroughly
The town librarians are overhauling the summer reading program.
2
: to haul or drag over
3
: overtake
The most imposing U.S. swimmer was overhauled by a 17-year-old Australian in the butterfly race.

Examples of overhaul in a Sentence

The mechanic overhauled the car's engine. They had to overhaul their original plans. Lawmakers are overhauling the welfare program.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
As has been summarized in many articles about the Netflix purge, creative leadership at the company is being overhauled amid poor stock performance and declining user engagement on the platform. — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 20 Oct. 2026 Gray Swan, an AI security startup that helps frontier AI companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind stress-test their models before release, is overhauling its public red-teaming platform to keep it relevant for the era of AI agents. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026 The multi-billion-dollar project will overhaul Units 3 to 8, returning all six to service by 2033 to power the grid for decades. — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2026 Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, overhauling the editor and image viewer, and combining photos and videos from your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into a single space. — Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for overhaul

Word History

First Known Use

1705, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of overhaul was in 1705

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Cite this Entry

“Overhaul.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overhaul. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Kids Definition

1
: to make a thorough examination of and make necessary repairs and adjustments on
overhaul an engine
2

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