overstrung
Americanadjective
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overly tense or sensitive; strained; on edge.
Their nerves were badly overstrung.
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Archery. (of a bow) strung too tightly.
adjective
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too highly strung; tense
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(of a piano) having two sets of strings crossing each other at an oblique angle
Etymology
Origin of overstrung
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.
Yes, overstrung, gaudily painted, honky tonk joannas for passersby to hammer out jazz standards on, which – naturally – many appeared to be able to do.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 5, 2016
Both teams were overstrung, playing crazily in their eagerness to win.
From Time Magazine Archive
Here, at all events, was an explanation to the mystery; but in my case the sudden relaxing of overstrung nerves made me little inclined to join in my companion's laugh.
From Highway Pirates or, The Secret Place at Coverthorne by Harold Avery
Doddie has so long been overstrung, almost ill....
From The Hidden Force A Story of Modern Java by Louis Couperus
The former is a handsome, nervous, overstrung woman of about thirty-four, very fashionably dressed; Miss Fraser, on the contrary, a matter-of-fact, rather commonplace type of good humor—wholesomeness united to a kind of sense of humor....
From Dramatic Technique by George Pierce Baker
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.
