lexicow

outweigh

/ˌaʊtˈweɪ//ˌaʊtˈweɪ/·verb
I watch one heavy ball drop onto a plank and pin its end to the ground at once, flicking the little ball on the far side helplessly up into the air. Then more small balls pile onto the light side, begging, and the plank lifts a hopeful inch — before the heavy one shrugs and slams back down. Numbers don't win this one. The single thing that truly matters just sits there and decides it.
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Definition

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.

Examples

  • For most families, the long-term savings outweigh the upfront cost of insulation.
  • The benefits of the vaccine massively outweigh its trivial and short-lived side effects.
  • The advantages of the new line clearly outweigh every constraint the planners raised against it.

Collocations

benefits outweigh the costs·advantages outweigh the disadvantages·far outweigh·outweigh the risks·clearly outweigh

Synonyms

exceed·surpass·override·eclipse·prevail over

Word family

weigh (verb)·weight (noun)

In TOEFL & 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'.