outfish

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive

   To catch more fish than someone else, especially in a contest or on the same trip.

   Grammar: Takes an object: outfish your rival. The object is the person or team you beat.

   Patterns

   • outfish someone
   • outfish someone by something

   She outfished everyone on the boat and still threw most of them back.

   Our team was outfished by a group of teenagers using simple hand lines.

   He loves to outfish his brother whenever they go to the lake together.

2. 2verbtransitive

   To do better than someone at catching fish, or to catch more than a stated number or weight.

   Grammar: Often used with an amount: outfish the other boats by 50 pounds.

   Patterns

   • outfish someone by an amount
   • outfish the competition

   The visiting anglers outfished the locals by nearly ten kilos.

   If we want to outfish the other crews, we need better bait and an earlier start.

Word forms

Common combinations

outfish the competition

With that new lure, he can easily outfish the competition.

outfish someone by a wide margin

The sisters outfished the rest of us by a wide margin.

outfish your friends

It is not hard to outfish your friends if you know where the fish are hiding.

outfish everyone on the boat

She managed to outfish everyone on the boat before lunch.

outfish the locals

Tourists rarely outfish the locals in these waters.

Synonyms and how they differ

outcatch

Means to catch more than someone, and can be used for any kind of catch, not only fish.

beat

Much more general; use it when the contest is not about fishing.

outdo

Focuses on doing better in general, so it is vaguer than outfish.

Word family

fishing noun

The activity or sport of catching fish.

fisherman noun

A person who catches fish, either for work or for fun.

fish verb

To try to catch fish.

Commonly confused: outfish or overfish?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “outfish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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