to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat: to overcome the enemy. to prevail over (opposition, a debility, temptations, etc.); surmount: to overcome one's weaknesses. to overpower or overwhelm in body or mind, as does liquor, a drug, exertion, or emotion: I was overcome with grief
We have stepped up our war production on a scale that is testing our industrial power, our engineering genius and our economic structure to the utmost.