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
-
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:
When asked about the loss, Mbappe was keen to not overreact.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
She makes some insufficiently careful decisions, but those around her tend to overreact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
Nutrition experts commenting on the research have also urged people not to overreact.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026
He missed a chunk of last season treating a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis and the Spurs didn’t overreact.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
The problem with Gina, and maybe all mothers—she could overreact, but she could also be right.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
In Novartis’s trial, three people died of a rare complication in which the immune system overreacts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
The financial press often overreacts about the bullish or bearish momentum behind popular investment themes.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 6, 2026
Sepsis happens when a person's immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage the body's own tissues and organs.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2024
Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body’s tissues and organs.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2024
However, this balance is upset if the immune system overreacts.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2024
Some cyber researchers have said they feel the administration overreacted to Amazon’s findings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 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 usually only called my parents on Sunday afternoons, so when my mom heard my voice, she instantly overreacted.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
“In our view, equity markets are overreacting to both developments,” Lee said, adding that stocks tend to respond quickly to developments in conflicts because of uncertainty.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Ritholtz does exactly that, running through such surefire ways to wreck your wealth as ignoring taxes, paying excessive fees, misinterpreting data, overreacting to short-term trends, and trading too much.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
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
Castellanos and others have accused the department of overreacting to the situation, which they maintain was largely peaceful.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
“You don’t think you’re overreacting? Just a bit?”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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.
