overhear
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overhearsimple
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overhearssimple
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have overheardperfect
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has overheardperfect
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am overhearingprogressive
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are overhearingprogressive
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is overhearingprogressive
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have been overhearingperfect progressive
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has been overhearingperfect progressive
Past
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overheardsimple
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had overheardperfect
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was overhearingprogressive
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were overhearingprogressive
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had been overhearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overhear
Explanation
When you accidentally hear part of a private conversation, you overhear it. If you overhear your friends discussing the surprise party they're throwing for your birthday, you'll have to pretend to be surprised. Some restaurants have tables so close together that it's hard not to overhear what your neighbors are talking about. And so many people walk around talking loudly on their mobile phones that it's common to overhear several conversations (or, at least one half of them) just walking down the sidewalk. This is a modern phenomenon, but overhear is an old word, from the sixteenth century idea of hearing "beyond the normal range of the voice."
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:
In towns near camps in western Massachusetts, it’s not uncommon to overhear conversations about prep school wait lists and tennis programs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Further along the footpath around the old dock, I overhear an American accent.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
I regularly overhear other birders marveling over the flashy warblers in breeding plumage, while overlooking other comparatively less-flashy birds like vireos and sparrows.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2025
I’m a first-class eavesdropper, and that’s when my chances to overhear juicy morsels are best.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024
He spoke to me in a low voice, as though there were someone else in the room, someone he didn’t want to overhear.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
Nearby, 40-year-old Masoumeh overhears our conversation and joins in.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
He ponders finding a therapist — the people he overhears chatting about it on their phones make the idea sound so interesting — and pursues a flirtation with another male cat over some carrion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
All seems idyllic — until the day Beth, approaching her husband and brother-in-law in a store, overhears Don saying that he doesn’t like her new novel at all, but he can’t tell her.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2023
On the other hand, judging from my time spent in airports and other public places, a lot of people don’t care at all who overhears their calls.
From Scientific American ● May 23, 2023
Then when he’s gone, Kelly overhears Mr. Rhydd telling Pete Redmarley's old biddy that Badger hadn't bought his usual cans of Pedigree Chum for three weeks.”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
She only learned about the reintroduction plan after asking rangers about discussions she had overheard.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
In it, she also noted she had once overheard a colleague say: "I've never had to tell a woman so loudly, and so often, that she would kill her baby if she didn't push."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
“The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard — that thought is a nightmare,” she said.
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
The stolen track chases him everywhere: on the radio, overheard at the mall, even at his own gigs where newlyweds cluelessly ask him to play “their” special song.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Oh, I almost wished I hadn’t overheard them talking!
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
The court heard that Morgan had been deemed a "high risk to others and to himself" after overhearing conversations that took place since he has been in custody.
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026
“After overhearing a passionate ideological dispute around her own kitchen table between the future Nobel laureate for literature and his radical friends from the University of Chicago, she muttered: ‘Smart, smart, smart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
In the same interview with Nikkan Sports, Yoko described how Roki’s eyes widened when overhearing her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2025
“Kids are often being exposed to these topics anyway, through their peers, the media and overhearing conversations,” said Wenner Moyer.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2024
Once I had seen my mother shudder on overhearing him expound to a group of ladies on the mating posture of order Opiliones, or daddy longlegs.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
