overconfident
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of overconfident
Explanation
If you're overconfident, you're so sure of yourself that you're pushy and obnoxious. It's important to be confident at a job interview, but if you're overconfident, you may come across as downright rude. There's a fine line between confidence and overconfidence: being confident is attractive and appropriate. When someone seems overconfident, though, they appear to be unrealistically sure of themselves, more arrogant than poised. Overconfident combines the prefix over-, "too much," and confident, from the Latin confidentem, "firmly trusting or self-confident."
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.
“I got overconfident a couple times, went, ‘Yep, nope, not good for me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
They’re all here, and they have as much overconfident swagger as a plucky young star on the Disney Channel.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
Ricciardi would like to see some kind of compromise, between passive investors just setting automatic investments and overconfident investors trying to do too much on their own.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 21, 2026
Kapralyk praised those who sign up to fight but worried that many, like Horbenko, were overconfident.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
And then, seeing the expression on Thor’s face, he said, “Her name is Elli, and I have seen her defeat men who seemed stronger than you when she wrestled them. Do not be overconfident, Thor.”
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
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.
