Pass a vehicle, overtake a vehicle, get past a vehicle, go past a vehicle

The differences are more in tone and feeling. They all mean the same, but "to pass a vehicle" sounds like a deliberate action. The others sound like you just happened to be going a little faster than the others. The difference is subtle, I have to admit.

Short answer: They all basically mean the same thing.

Those phrases all mean the same thing. They can be used interchangeably.

They don't all mean the same thing, at least not in British English, and, I supsect, other variants.

In standard English, when you 'pass' or 'go past' another vehicle that other vehicle can be moving (in the same direction as you or not) or stationary, but you can only 'overtake' or 'get past' another vehicle that is 1. moving and 2. moving in the same direction as your own vehicle.

In US informal dialect, pass and overtake can have similar meanings.

You can overtake a vehicle without necessarily passing it. As I would use it, it means closing a large gap between a vehicle ahead of you by moving faster than it it, like cops overtake a speeding car that passes them going like a bat out of hell. They don't then pass it, but stay behind it with their cop lights flashing until the idiot pulls over. Passing it would defeat the whole purpose of overtaking it. the other threee are all pretty much the same as each other.

You can't in British English. In that dialect, to 'overtake' means, in physical terms, to catch up with and pass a person or vehicle travelling in the same direction. It's the passing that is the essential part. It can also mean "become greater or more successful than" as in "Germany overtook Britain in industrial output". Thus 'overtaking' is not the same as 'catching up with' or 'drawing level with'.



This is either a local dialect variation where you live, or else a US English - British English difference, because that is what we call 'catching up' or 'catching up with', and as I outlined above, this is different from overtaking.

My dictionary has "1. To catch up with. 2. To catch up with and pass by". Two definitions, with one contrasting feature. The first definition is usually the more common usage, and that's the one I think of as the more usual one. Of course, it's an American dictionary. I can think of a number of situations where you would overtake someone but not pass them/ What would you call it if not "overtake" when a cop catches up with a fleeing car but doesn't pass it?

Catching up.

And I would call it "overtake" as opposed to "pass"

In Australia to 'overtake' is to pass a car traveling in the same direction.

Okay, the World English Dictionary, By Collins the dictionary makers in Britain, say the use of catch up with and pass is chiefly British. Since the etymology goes back to the 13th century for the meaning of catch up, and since we outnumber you on the order of 5 to 1, I'd say the Brit usage is the local dialect one, not us.

In UK car driving terminology, overtaking definitely involves passing another vehicle or vehicles. Sections 267 to 269 of the "Highway Code", the official government driving guidance, specifically cover the topic of 'overtaking' on motorways (freeways). Section 267 says:

(Bear in mind we drive on the left; also passing on either side of slower vehicles is not allowed)

"Do not overtake unless you are sure it is safe and legal to do so. Overtake only on the right. You should

check your mirrors

take time to judge the speeds correctly

make sure that the lane you will be joining is sufficiently clear ahead and behind

take a quick sideways glance into the blind spot area to verify the position of a vehicle that may have disappeared from your view in the mirror

remember that traffic may be coming up behind you very quickly. Check all your mirrors carefully. Look out for motorcyclists. When it is safe to do so, signal in plenty of time, then move out

ensure you do not cut in on the vehicle you have overtaken

be especially careful at night and in poor visibility when it is harder to judge speed and distance."

There is an illegal practice, passing on the inside, which is sometimes called 'undertaking'.

Let us suppose I work in a sales team and I am in a race with my colleague to sell as many widgets as we can in a day.

10 AM: he has sold 50 widgets; I have sold 45. He is ahead of me.
11 AM: he has sold 65, I have sold 65 - I have caught him up!
12 noon: he has sold 80, I have sold 85... I have overtaken him.

And i might add the Brit usage seems to be a fairly recent local dialectical variation from the common usage (i.e. the American usage), since the Oxford Universal English Dictionary on Historical Principles, published in 1937, traces it back to Middle English and gives as the principal definition "To come up with; to come up to in pursuit; to catch up with". None of its definitions carry the meaning of to catch up and pass. Can't get more British than the various Oxford dictionaries. Up the Oxford University Press.

About half of the world's native English speakers use British English in some form.

I would say you're flailing about desperately here... I just checked the calendar, and it isn't 1937 any more.

The OUED on HP proves my point that your British usage is a relatively recent divergence from the usual usage of the last five centuries or so, which is why 1937 is relevant as a terminus post quem, you flaming revisionist you.

OK I accept the divergence... I recall that in a pursuit, when the pursuer catches up with the pursued, the former can be said to 'overhaul' the latter.