overarching
Americanadjective
-
forming an arch above.
great trees with overarching branches.
-
encompassing or overshadowing everything.
The community's overarching needs are more jobs and better housing.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of overarching
Explanation
When something is overarching, it affects or includes everything. While your novel touches on a lot of subjects and ideas, its overarching theme is the importance of friendship. When it's used figuratively, this adjective describes a quality that influences every single part of something. You can say that your club's overarching interest is the outdoors, or that the overarching goal of your school is to give everyone a solid STEM education. Overarching also literally means "forming an arch shape over something," like the overarching grape vines you pass beneath to enter your friend's garden.
Vocabulary lists containing overarching
Life of Pi
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Moneyball
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Masterminds
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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.
What is your overarching goal for these shows?
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026
“The one overarching objective for him was to remove sanctions to improve the economy of the Islamic Republic,” said Enrique Mora, the Spanish diplomat who chaired talks on reviving the nuclear deal from 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
The company's overarching question to the jury has been whether Kaley's mental health problems were clearly caused by her social media use, while making the case that many other factors were to blame.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
“It can be a nice overarching tool that can allow you to kind of simplify your bill-paying,” Schulz said.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 26, 2026
It’s an aspect of the art of writing which depends on intuition, experience, and guesswork, but there is also an overarching guideline.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
