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Synonyms

go overboard

Idioms  

  1. Show excessive enthusiasm, act in an excessive way. For example, It's easy to go overboard with a new stock offering, or She really went overboard, hiring the most expensive caterer. [Mid-1900s]

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.

“We go overboard because we haven’t learned how to temperate our appetite for memory.”

From Slate • Nov. 13, 2024

In children with autism, it seems to go overboard, and this can be measured with a simple eye-tracking device.

From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2024

Foster said he wanted to be selective in his offers, but he can’t go overboard like his predecessor, given Chip Kelly’s abysmal hit rate on the handful of prospects targeted.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2024

This spot-on characterization illustrates how island residents go overboard for their paw-pals; some even have gone postal.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 14, 2023

It is not uncommon for doctors to be chronic overachievers; Beck wasn’t the first physician to go overboard with a new hobby.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

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.