overheat
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overheats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overheated,
past participle, past
-
overheating
present participle
-
to heat to excess.
-
to excite or agitate; make vehement.
a crowd overheated by rabble-rousers.
verb (used without object)
-
overheats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overheated,
past participle, past
-
overheating
present participle
noun
verb
-
to make or become excessively hot
-
(tr; often passive) to make very agitated, irritated, etc
-
(intr) (of an economy) to tend towards inflation, often as a result of excessive growth in demand
-
(tr) to cause (an economy) to tend towards inflation
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overheatsimple
-
overheatssimple
-
have overheatedperfect
-
has overheatedperfect
-
am overheatingprogressive
-
are overheatingprogressive
-
is overheatingprogressive
-
have been overheatingperfect progressive
-
has been overheatingperfect progressive
Past
-
overheatedsimple
-
had overheatedperfect
-
was overheatingprogressive
-
were overheatingprogressive
-
had been overheatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overheat
First recorded in 1350–1400, overheat is from the Middle English word overheten. See over-, heat
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:
These chips could also overheat, said John Abraham, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of St. Thomas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
As crews successfully stabilized the initial container, an adjacent 250-kilowatt container then started to overheat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
A sail exposed to an extremely powerful laser could potentially overheat or even melt.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
It also said households should never connect one through an extension lead, cable reel or plug-in adaptor, as these can overheat.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
I wondered how they didn’t overheat, covered in black.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
In conventional battery packs, when one cell overheats and catches fire, it can cause all those around it to also catch fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Mandy says she is constantly reaching for her inhaler as her flat overheats.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
That overheats the present economy and pushes rates higher.
From Barron's ● May 9, 2026
Run the machine too hard and it overheats.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 5, 2026
Wind blows through the flaps; sunshine overheats; and stars twinkle overhead.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
An Anduril spokesman said its drone overheated and that it had previously been tested in hot and cold temperatures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
The country’s overheated immune system has found new targets.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Records tumbled in overheated basins like the Atlantic and Mediterranean and also the tropical Pacific, where the strongest El Nino weather pattern in the modern era is fast accumulating strength.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
When the Baeli family moved in 10 years ago, their house had draughty PVC double-glazed windows with little insulation - they struggled to keep warm in the winter and overheated in the summer.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Doesn’t cost them a nickel—that’s why all the houses are overheated.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
The 33-year-old’s rounds include sniffing for burning equipment that could indicate overheating, feeling tubes for cracks and looking for faulty lighting or broken power transformers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Electrical noise, cosmic radiation, and overheating can all introduce errors while information is being processed.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
If the body’s system isn’t functioning properly, then there is a risk of dehydration, heart strain and overheating, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
But data centres also consume large amounts of water - some up to 40 million litres a day, which is equivalent to 80,000 households - to prevent their servers from overheating.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Dehydration left them so prone to overheating, even in mild weather, that their valets prepared huge bins of ice cubes into which they could flop to cool off.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
