devancer
French → English/d(ə)vɑ̃se/
transitive verb
(= distancer) to get ahead of, (= précéder) to arrive before, [+ question, désir] to anticipate
- il m’a devancé de trois minutes/points he beat me by three minutes/points
- les enfants nous ont devancés au portail the children got to the gate before us
- j’allais le faire mais il m’a devancé I was going to do it but he got there first