overbearing
Americanadjective
-
domineering; dictatorial; haughtily or rudely arrogant.
-
of overwhelming or critical importance.
adjective
-
domineering or dictatorial in manner or action
-
of particular or overriding importance or significance
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of overbearing
Explanation
Overbearing means domineering. You might find it difficult to play the piano as your overbearing instructor criticizes every key you touch. The adjective overbearing typically describes a person who is haughty and dictatorial. Someone considered to be overbearing or arrogant wouldn't be described as kind or modest, which are antonyms of overbearing. Overbearing also means “repressing or overwhelming.” Thomas Jefferson uses this definition in his decree, “If the freedom of religion, guaranteed to us by law in theory, can ever rise in practice under the overbearing inquisition of public opinion, then and only then will truth, prevail over fanaticism.”
Vocabulary lists containing overbearing
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
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The Federalist Papers, No. 10 by James Madison
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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.
Don’t bring up any overbearing behavior like, “You message me too much,” as they will probably get defensive.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
It said the installation harmed a neighbouring property because of its "overbearing scale, oppressive sense of enclosure and stark industrial appearance".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
In most of these, we can see the mother-son dynamic, however frustrating or overbearing or dysfunctional, play out.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
Later that year, in a blog post on his personal website, Bosworth recounted a talking-to he had once received from Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s then-head of operations, about his overbearing way of communicating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
The colonel was more than a head taller than the chaplain and over twice as broad, and his swollen, overbearing authority made the chaplain feel frail and sickly by contrast.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
