overachiever

Also o·ver-a·chiev·er

[oh-ver-uh-chee-ver]

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of overachiever¹

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