overachiever

American  

[oh-ver-uh-chee-ver] / ˌoʊ vər əˈtʃi vər /

Also over-achiever

noun

1. a person who performs better or achieves more than people are generally expected to, often because of high ambition, pressure from family, etc..

   Ever the overachiever, he reached his sales goal for the year a whopping five months early.

2. a person who performs, especially academically, above the potential indicated by tests of their mental ability or aptitude.

   We found many overachievers with modest SAT scores who nevertheless achieved high GPAs across a variety of majors.

---

Etymology

Origin of overachiever

First recorded in 1935–40; over- ( def. ) + achieve ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

But Iowa is the last stand for Mr. Overachiever Man — and I'll leave the gags about how there actually is a Waterloo in Iowa to him.

From Salon • Feb. 2, 2020

Over the past few months, I’ve been getting an email newsletter called the Anxious Overachiever.

From Slate • Jan. 11, 2020

She knows how to win us over, using her faultless comic timing to back away from Rosenstrach the Overachiever, just when we were starting to resent her OCD energy level.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2012