overachiever
Americannoun
-
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.
-
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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of overachiever
First recorded in 1935–40; over- ( def. ) + achieve ( def. ) + -er 1 ( def. )
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:
If the bare minimum is enough for you to be seen and recognized for solid work, there might be no need to become an office overachiever.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
Gilbert, who had the same likelihood of inheriting the disease but did not, said losing them turned her into an overachiever who always wanted to fight for the underdog.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025
Flack considered herself an overachiever, a stubborn perfectionist and was given to self-reflection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2025
If you’re going to be an overachiever, be one like Schuyler Peters.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 21, 2024
I’m something of an overachiever in that class.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
That human dynamic allowed Rose to mold a bunch of basketball’s castoffs and underdogs into the greatest group of overachievers in NBA history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
So let's have look at the continent's biggest overachievers - have your say, tell us who we've missed and rank the top 10 below.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
Like any friend group, “Next Gen NYC” is filled with overachievers and underachievers; people who have family money and people who work long hours, scraping by to make their way in the big city.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2025
The overachievers plug in a strand of orange lights, blowup some inflatable ghosts and call it a day.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 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.
