overwrought
Americanadjective
-
extremely or excessively excited or agitated.
to become overwrought on hearing bad news; an overwrought personality.
- Synonyms:
- frantic, distracted
-
elaborated to excess; excessively complex or ornate.
written in a florid, overwrought style.
-
Archaic. wearied or exhausted by overwork.
adjective
-
full of nervous tension; agitated
-
too elaborate; fussy
an overwrought style
-
with the surface decorated or adorned
Etymology
Origin of overwrought
Explanation
High in drama and lacking any emotional restraint, overwrought is an adjective that means deeply, excessively agitated or nervous. Say your favorite soap star gets killed off in episode 12. If you sob uncontrollably, tear at your hair, and refuse to leave the couch for a week, most would say your response was overwrought — in other words, a bit much. But it's not just emotions that can go over the top. The gaudy, golden McMansion covered in ornate Italian statuary where your soap star lives in real life? Totally overdone, or overwrought, with details.
Vocabulary lists containing overwrought
The Phantom Tollbooth
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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Don't Panic! Synonyms for "Stress"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Overwrought rhetoric on domestic affairs is one thing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026
Overwrought with information about transmission rates and handwashing routines, my mind was hungry for moments of the harmless indulgence of a day dream: Who was flying in a pandemic?
From Slate • Mar. 12, 2021
Overwrought professors explain the taxonomy of monsters; Dave shoots said monsters using a T-shirt cannon loaded with knockoff Shrouds of Turin.
From Washington Post • Oct. 12, 2017
Overwrought love letters began turning up on the notice board at the University of Manchester’s computer lab in August, 1953.
From The New Yorker • Feb. 14, 2017
Overwrought nature could bear no more, and she sank in insensibility to the ground, her fair countenance convulsed with agony.
From The Last of the Vikings by Bowling, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
