overdress
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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overdresses,
present (3rd person singular)
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overdressed,
past participle, past
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overdressing
present participle
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to dress with too much display, finery, or formality.
He certainly overdressed for the occasion.
-
to put excessive clothing on.
She tends to overdress her children.
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overdresssimple
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overdressessimple
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have overdressedperfect
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has overdressedperfect
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am overdressingprogressive
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are overdressingprogressive
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is overdressingprogressive
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have been overdressingperfect progressive
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has been overdressingperfect progressive
Past
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overdressedsimple
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had overdressedperfect
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was overdressingprogressive
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were overdressingprogressive
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had been overdressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overdress
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.
See Examples For:
"I was wearing formal clothing – that taught me not to overdress in hot weather."
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
“It’s just flagrantly obnoxious to overdress in a workplace situation, especially when you’re a junior member,” said Gunn, best known for being a clear-eyed mentor on the fashion-design competition show “Project Runway.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
Still, it’s hard to resist the temptation to overdress.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2020
Like the also-new Millie’s in Spring Valley, the Salt Line is a fish house that doesn’t overdress for success.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2017
But I am inclined to think that in the Fifties there was a natural tendency to overdress, to over-decorate, to overdo almost everything.
From In the Footprints of the Padres by Charles Warren Stoddard
As the head of a luxury marketing agency who overdresses, smokes, mocks political correctness and oozes meanness, she is the extreme version of the “Parisienne,” disseminating style and scorn in equal measure.
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2020
Court ladies in pale-yellow bodices and looped overdresses over white.
From Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People by Constance D'Arcy Mackay
The bride-maids were all dressed in a uniform of white tarletan, trained, with overdresses of the same, rose-colored sashes and bows, and rose wreaths on their heads.
From Victor's Triumph Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
They are maids of the court, who wear rose-pink bodices and overdresses over white.
From Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People by Constance D'Arcy Mackay
She still overdresses, and makes eyes, and she nudges those who sit next her at table, but she is good-natured, says whatever comes into her head, and has a strong sense of humor.
From Unleavened Bread by Robert Grant
And the older guests, slightly overdressed for the occasion, can be seen smuggling their ties back into their pockets.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2024
But many of us are still loyal to sweatpants, and perhaps less inclined to participate in the formal, overdressed dining rituals of our pre-pandemic lives.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2022
“Death in Venice” both satirizes and relishes upper-class Venetian tourism of the early 20th century, with a patient camera that settles, uncomfortably if nauseatingly, on an overdecorated hotel and its overdressed guests.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
Literary acoustic and piano numbers are gracefully brushed with elegant strings without feeling overdressed.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2018
“Johnny, do you think I might’ve overdressed a little for this thing? The invitation said formal, but these girls here all look like they’re dressed for church.”
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Doing the most: People made up for the past few years by overdressing in 2022.
From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2022
We're overdressing her all the time, which I adore because it's not realistic at all, and we can do it and Darren loves it.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2022
Avoid the gruesome pitfalls of overdressing or underdressing.
From Slate ● Feb. 2, 2012
Saturday-Night Outfit: It depends where, but I always believe in overdressing.
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2010
But there was a faded look about her now, and she had a weakness for loud talking and overdressing.
From The Von Toodleburgs Or, The History of a Very Distinguished Family by A. R. Waud
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.
