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outweigh

/ˌaʊtˈweɪ//ˌaʊtˈweɪ/·verb
to be greater than something else in weight, value, or importance
Fig. 1 — A plank rests on a fulcrum with a single light weight on its left end.
01Definition

To outweigh something is to be heavier than it — but the word is almost always used figuratively, of value rather than mass. When the benefits outweigh the costs, they tip the decision: the heavier side wins, and the lighter side stops mattering to the verdict. The 'out-' prefix means 'surpassing', the same one in outrun and outlast, so outweigh is fundamentally competitive — two things set against each other, and one of them decisively the greater. It is a workhorse of argument, the verb you reach for when weighing one consideration against another.

02In use
  • iFor most families, the long-term savings outweigh the upfront cost of insulation.
  • iiThe benefits of the vaccine massively outweigh its trivial and short-lived side effects.
  • iiiThe advantages of the new line clearly outweigh every constraint the planners raised against it.
03Collocations
  • benefits outweigh the costs
  • advantages outweigh the disadvantages
  • far outweigh
  • outweigh the risks
  • clearly outweigh

Family weigh (verb) · weight (noun)

04Relations

=exceed, surpass, override, eclipse, prevail over

06TOEFL & IELTS

Indispensable for IELTS 'advantages and disadvantages' essays — 'the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks' is a textbook conclusion sentence. Mind subject–verb agreement (the benefits outweigh, the benefit outweighs) and lift it with intensifiers: far / greatly / massively / clearly outweigh. Spelling ends in -eigh, like 'weigh'.

07Asked
Does outweigh mean greater in number or greater in importance?
Importance — and the mistake is common enough that IELTS teachers warn about it. 'Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?' is not asking you to count points on each side; it asks which side weighs more. Three trivial advantages do not outweigh one serious harm. The scene above is blunt about it: the small weights pile up on their end, and the plank barely stirs.
Is it 'the benefits outweigh' or 'outweighs'?
Agreement follows the subject as with any verb: the benefits outweigh, the benefit outweighs. Where learners slip is the question form — 'Do the benefits outweigh the costs?', with bare outweigh after do. The mirror sentence is worth owning too: 'the costs are outweighed by the benefits', passive, for when the losing side is your topic.
What does 'far outweigh' add?
Distance: the scales are not close, so the judgment is not close either. 'The benefits far outweigh the risks' concedes the risks exist while declaring the contest over — the standard move for conclusions that admit a downside without surrendering to it. Its siblings shade in tone: greatly is formal, clearly is argumentative, massively is emphatic and more conversational.
Can outweigh still mean literally weighing more?
Yes — the literal sense is alive wherever bodies are weighed: a boxer can outweigh an opponent by ten pounds; a Great Dane outweighs a small adult. Outside sport and zoology, though, the figurative sense has taken over so thoroughly that a literal use can read as a small joke. If actual kilograms are involved, the word is being used literally.
What can I use instead of outweigh?
By shade: take precedence over is procedural (one duty ranks first); override is forceful (one factor cancels another's say); eclipse is dramatic (one thing makes the other invisible); and matter more than is the plain-English floor. Outweigh sits in the judicial middle — two sides honestly weighed, one heavier — which is why essays about trade-offs keep reaching for it.