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
Poor Dicky, he had a weak heart, overstrung nerves, and an injudicious mother; and between them, was fast being ruined body and soul, when Miriam came to save him.
From A Woman's Burden by Fergus Hume
His overstrung nerves betrayed themselves in a dozen different ways.
From The Sixth Sense A Novel by Stephen McKenna
Only too often before a match, he felt nervous, overstrung, but it did not occur to him that he was on the verge of disaster.
From The Sailor by J. C. Snaith
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.
