overreact
Americanverb (used without object)
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overreacts,
present (3rd person singular)
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overreacted,
past participle, past
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overreacting
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overreactsimple
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overreactssimple
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have overreactedperfect
-
has overreactedperfect
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am overreactingprogressive
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are overreactingprogressive
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is overreactingprogressive
-
have been overreactingperfect progressive
-
has been overreactingperfect progressive
Past
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overreactedsimple
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had overreactedperfect
-
was overreactingprogressive
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were overreactingprogressive
-
had been overreactingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overreact
Explanation
To overreact is to respond to something in an overly excited, angry, or fearful way. If you're pretty sure your dad will overreact when he hears about your fender bender, you might want to tell your mom first. Whenever someone reacts more emotionally than seems appropriate, they overreact. You might overreact to a happy plot twist in your favorite TV show by cheering and jumping up and down — and a city bus driver might overreact to a passenger listening to loud music by pulling the bus over to the side of the road and turning to yell angrily. Overreact was first used in the 1960s, probably by historian and literary critic Lewis Mumford.
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:
Its stock is down, but investors shouldn’t overreact to worries about the autonomous-vehicle business.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Nutrition experts commenting on the research have also urged people not to overreact.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026
"I did overreact, yes, in the way I reacted. It could have been different but I ended up losing my head," added Neymar.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
If you lived through the 1970s oil shocks, you may overreact when you see $4 a gallon at the pump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
I tried not to overreact anytime they reported making a new friend, though inwardly I was jubilant.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
The financial press often overreacts about the bullish or bearish momentum behind popular investment themes.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 6, 2026
“The market overreacts habitually to anxiety as it relates to our sector,” Nuttall told analysts Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Sepsis develops when the body's immune system overreacts to an infection and begins damaging its own tissues and organs.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 30, 2026
"He's harmless, but cautious of everything and he sometimes overreacts."
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2023
Their immune system overreacts to peanut-containing foods, triggering an inflammatory cascade that causes hives, wheezing or worse.
From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2023
“They overreacted, and there’s proof that they overreacted because now there’s a framework that makes sense,” Lutnick said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Michael Sansoterra, chief investment officer at Silvant Capital Management, thinks investors have overreacted.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 7, 2025
In the food court, two freshmen debated whether the university had overreacted with the new police patrols and K-9 unit.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2025
An optimist would say the market overreacted and now it’s time to get on with our lives.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2025
“I think I overreacted because it was about Kainene.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The cost of missing a real threat was death, while the cost of overreacting was a few minutes of wasted vigilance.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 16, 2026
"If there's a worse stretch of road in the UK, I'd like to see it, and if anyone thinks I'm overreacting I'd be happy to show them."
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Still, investors have piled in during the war despite a history of overreacting to past geopolitical events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
This time it hit after he booted his own center Steven Jamerson II from a game at Michigan State on Feb. 17, overreacting because he mistook a clean basketball play for something else.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2026
“I didn’t want them overreacting and hurting anyone.”
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
