overcook
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overcooks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overcooked,
past participle, past
-
overcooking
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overcooksimple
-
overcookssimple
-
have overcookedperfect
-
has overcookedperfect
-
am overcookingprogressive
-
are overcookingprogressive
-
is overcookingprogressive
-
have been overcookingperfect progressive
-
has been overcookingperfect progressive
Past
-
overcookedsimple
-
had overcookedperfect
-
was overcookingprogressive
-
were overcookingprogressive
-
had been overcookingperfect progressive
Future
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:
As Juliet, Emma Marhefka’s lyric soprano was best in dramatic moments, such as Act 4’s poison aria; as Romeo, Leonardo Sánchez tended to overcook his tenor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
I say to people now just treat it like male grooming – don't overcook it.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2025
“That was usually a mistake on our part because we had let it overcook and then they loved it,” said Dora.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2025
Professor Williams added: "I don't think it's useful as pasta, sadly, as it would overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2024
There’s also a bowl of fufu—starchy dough that Ama used to make for holidays—and a few trays of chofi, fried turkey tail that my uncle always seems to overcook.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
What should resemble a fluffy cloud of eggs overcooks, breaks, or — in the worst cases — gets horribly stuck to the pan.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2023
Firming the whites faster with vinegar simply overcooks them before the yolks are ready.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2021
Delicate shrimp overcooks in a matter of seconds.
From Washington Times ● May 28, 2019
Nova Y. Payton sings some long, gorgeous phrases in the bluesy ballad “Mean to Me,” but then the finish overcooks the melodrama.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 31, 2019
The number eight can’t get away, so Cabelli looks to box kick into space, but he overcooks it and puts the ball straight out.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 20, 2015
The robot pizza-making business has, it's true, been littered with sorry tales of overcooked promises and melting fortunes.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Tech stocks have had a bumpy ride because of fears that the buzz around artificial intelligence may not match reality and that shares in the sector are overcooked.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I may have overcooked it a little bit,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
It even comes with straightforward meat probes that display their readings in the app, taking the guesswork out of doneness and making overcooked brisket a thing of the past.
From Salon ● Nov. 20, 2025
The vegetables were overcooked, the cornmeal was too lumpy, the soup too watery, and the yam slices coarse from being boiled without a dollop of butter.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
It “helps stop me from overcooking it. I don’t think anyone had done that before, or at least not in the competition.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2025
They both complement the natural sweetness of easy-to-cook shrimp, which we sear on only one side; allowing the shrimp to finish cooking in the gentler residual heat of the sauce prevents them from overcooking.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
It's getting the pastry crispy without the custard overcooking and getting that beautiful brown spots on the surface.
From Salon ● May 29, 2023
If overcooking is one of the enemies of fish, then drop your oven temperature.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2023
Abuela told us about the time Abuelo had made her grilled steak with black beans, and he’d kept overcooking the steak and undercooking the beans.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
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.
