Verbs That Start With O

112 words Words by letter Checked 9 Oct 2026

These verbs that start with O come from a standard English dictionary used for word games, ranked by how often each word is used in everyday writing. There are 112 verbs starting with O on this page. The 100 most common come first, each with a short meaning, followed by shorter, longer and easier picks and a filter for any ending or length.

With 112 entries, O verbs lean on two strong prefixes. Over- builds overcome, overlap, overhaul, overlook, overload and override, and out- adds outline and outlaw. Spot the prefix and the meaning is often half solved.

For younger readers, open, offer, owe and obey are short and familiar. Older students meet observe, obtain, occupy and operate in science and history work. Organize also appears as organise, so check which spelling your school or game dictionary uses before you score it.

Verbs starting with O: 112
Most used: open
Longest common one: overlapping 11 letters

Most common verbs that start with O

Ranked by how often the word appears in English text. "Type" is the word's main part of speech.

#	Word	Meaning	Type
1	open	cause to open or to become open	verb
2	offer	make available or accessible, provide or furnish	verb
3	operate	direct or control; projects, businesses, etc.	verb
4	occur	come to pass	verb
5	obtain	come into possession of	verb
6	overcome	win a victory over	verb
7	owe	be obliged to pay or repay	verb
8	observe	discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of	verb
9	offset	compensate for or counterbalance	verb
10	organize	create (as an entity)	verb
11	oppose	be against; express opposition to	verb
12	occupy	keep busy with	verb
13	outline	describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of	verb
14	opt	select as an alternative over another	verb
15	obscure	make less visible or unclear	verb
16	obey	be obedient to	verb
17	ooh	express admiration and pleasure by uttering `ooh' or `aah'	verb
18	overlap	coincide partially or wholly	verb
19	overthrow	cause the downfall of; of rulers	verb
20	overhaul	travel past	verb
21	offend	cause to feel resentment or indignation	verb
22	overdose	dose too heavily	verb
23	overlapping	coincide partially or wholly	verb
24	overlook	look past, fail to notice	verb
25	outlaw	declare illegal; outlaw	verb
26	oversee	watch and direct	verb
27	organise	bring order and organization to	verb
28	overload	become overloaded	verb
29	orient	be oriented	verb
30	override	rule against	verb
31	overflow	flow or run over (a limit or brim)	verb
32	originate	come into existence; take on form or shape	verb
33	overrun	invade in great numbers	verb
34	optimize	make optimal; get the most out of; use best	verb
35	ornament	make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.	verb
36	overtake	catch up with and possibly overtake	verb
37	occult	cause an eclipse of (a celestial body) by intervention	verb
38	outweigh	be heavier than	verb
39	overlay	put something on top of something else	verb
40	overturn	turn from an upright or normal position	verb
41	overdrive	drive or work too hard	verb
42	officiating	act in an official capacity in a ceremony or religious ritual, such as a wedding	verb
43	overwhelm	overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli	verb
44	oblige	force somebody to do something	verb
45	overheating	get excessively and undesirably hot	verb
46	obstruct	hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of	verb
47	omit	prevent from being included or considered or accepted	verb
48	outperform	be or do something to a greater degree	verb
49	overtaking	catch up with and possibly overtake	verb
50	outnumber	be larger in number	verb
51	outrun	run faster than	verb
52	oust	remove from a position or office	verb
53	obsess	haunt like a ghost; pursue	verb
54	oozing	pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings	verb
55	oppress	come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority	verb
56	overpower	overcome by superior force	verb
57	overdo	do something to an excessive degree	verb
58	overestimate	make too high an estimate of	verb
59	overreact	show an exaggerated response to something	verb
60	outlast	live longer than	verb
61	obliterate	mark for deletion, rub off, or erase	verb
62	offload	transfer to a peripheral device, of computer data	verb
63	overrule	rule against	verb
64	outdo	be or do something to a greater degree	verb
65	outlive	live longer than	verb
66	overshadow	be greater in significance than	verb
67	overheat	get excessively and undesirably hot	verb
68	ogle	look at with amorous intentions	verb
69	outgrow	grow too large or too mature for	verb
70	outsmart	beat through cleverness and wit	verb
71	overstate	to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth	verb
72	orchestrate	write an orchestra score for	verb
73	overhear	hear, usually without the knowledge of the speakers	verb
74	officiate	act in an official capacity in a ceremony or religious ritual, such as a wedding	verb
75	outbid	bid over an opponent's bid when one's partner has not bid or doubled	verb
76	overreach	fail by aiming too high or trying too hard	verb
77	overwork	use too much	verb
78	optimise	make optimal; get the most out of; use best	verb
79	ousting	remove from a position or office	verb
80	obligate	force somebody to do something	verb
81	overshoot	shoot beyond or over (a target)	verb
82	outshine	shine brighter than	verb
83	overcharge	rip off; ask an unreasonable price	verb
84	ordain	order by virtue of superior authority; decree	verb
85	outwit	beat through cleverness and wit	verb
86	overwrite	write new data on top of existing data and thus erase the previously existing data	verb
87	oscillate	be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action	verb
88	outpace	surpass in speed	verb
89	overstep	pass beyond (limits or boundaries)	verb
90	overpay	pay too much	verb
91	oxidize	enter into a combination with oxygen or become converted into an oxide	verb
92	outstrip	be or do something to a greater degree	verb
93	opine	express one's opinion openly and without fear or hesitation	verb
94	overeat	overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself	verb
95	objectify	make external or objective, or give reality to	verb
96	obfuscate	make obscure or unclear	verb
97	overburden	burden with too much work or responsibility	verb
98	outflank	go around the flank of (an opposing army)	verb
99	overspend	spend more than available of (a budget)	verb
100	overcompensate	make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities	verb

Positive verbs that start with O

overtake
outperform
overtaking
outdo
outsmart
outshine
outwit
outstrip

Short verbs that start with O

open
offer
occur
owe
opt
obey
ooh
omit
oust
outdo
ogle
opine

Long verbs that start with O

overlapping
officiating
overheating
outperform
overtaking
overestimate
obliterate
overshadow
orchestrate
overcharge

Filter all 112 verbs that start with O

Narrow the full list by ending, letters inside and length. The list updates as you type.

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Questions people ask

How many verbs start with O?

This list has 112 verbs starting with O, taken from a standard word-game dictionary and limited to words that appear in real English text.

What are the most common verbs that start with O?

open, offer, operate, occur, obtain, overcome, owe, observe are the most used in everyday English.

What are some long verbs that start with O?

overthrow, overlapping, originate, overdrive, officiating.

What are easy verbs that start with O for kids?

open, offer, occur, obtain are short, everyday examples.

Source: the ENABLE word list (a public-domain dictionary used for word games), ranked by how often each word appears in English text (the open wordfreq project), with short meanings from Princeton WordNet. Offensive words are left out.

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