overstimulate

American  

[oh-ver-stim-yuh-layt] / ˌoʊ vərˈstɪm jəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

overstimulated, overstimulated

1. to stimulate (something) to an excessive or harmful degree.

2. Physiology. to cause (someone) to experience sensory overload.

3. Physiology. to cause (a gland, nerve, or other organ) to become overactive and produce an abnormal increase in its usual activity.

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verb (used without object)

overstimulated, overstimulated

1. Physiology. (especially of a gland or nerve) to become overactive and produce an abnormal increase in its usual activity.

Other Word Forms

• overstimulation
  noun
• overstimulative
  adjective
• overstimulatory
  adjective

Explanation

Overstimulate means to overwhelm someone, or make something overactive. Feeling angry, frustrated, or upset in a noisy or brightly lit space might suggest that you're easy to overstimulate. Caffeine might overstimulate your brain and make it difficult to sleep, or loud music which is fun at first might eventually make you feel overwhelmed, or overstimulated. Stimulate means "to provide stimulus or input." Overstimulate means "to provide an overwhelming amount of input."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overstimulate overstimulated

The pulsating music, giant inflatables tossed into the crowd and sudden blasts of fog can overstimulate kids.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2025

The smells, lights, textures, and crowds in the ER can overstimulate a person with autism, she said.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024

Alicia also says day-to-day activities, like grocery shopping, medical appointments and haircuts, have been abandoned, as she prioritises preventing situations that could overstimulate her son.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024

Making a room hypertransparent for people who are deaf may overstimulate people who are autistic.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 20, 2023

Now again, the study of a book, under the usual conditions of sitting in a closed space and using pen, tongue, and eye combined, has a tendency to overstimulate the accessory muscles.

From Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene by Hall, G. Stanley

I’m sure the scientific explanation involves ecstatic brain hormones, leading to an overstimulated smile reflex.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

But if they are overstimulated, they will have the opposite effect, creating stomach cramping, vomiting, nausea, irritability, and panic when exposed to even a small amount.

From Slate ● Jun. 13, 2026

Dopamine is a chemical that helps regulate movement but also plays a key role in motivation and reward, which can be overstimulated by these medications.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026

"It's where the prefrontal cortex is overloaded, overstimulated, and you make all kinds of dangerous mistakes when you're multitasking behind the wheel," he said.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 29, 2024

I even find myself telling her about how humanity is off course, how we’re overconnected, overstimulated, undernourished.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy