overweening
Americanadjective
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presumptuously conceited, overconfident, or proud.
a brash, insolent, overweening fellow.
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exaggerated, excessive, or arrogant.
overweening prejudice; overweening pride.
adjective
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(of a person) excessively arrogant or presumptuous
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(of opinions, appetites, etc) excessive; immoderate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of overweening
1300–50; Middle English overwening ( e ) (gerund); see overween, -ing 2
Explanation
Overweening is a negative term meaning arrogant or excessive. People can be described as having overweening pride or overweening ambition. It's too much and not good. Confidence and pride are okay in moderation. Overweening means having too much of it though so that it overtakes the rest of your personality, and not in a good way. If your football team has won every game of the season, they need to watch that they don't become overweening and start playing games as if they have already won.
Vocabulary lists containing overweening
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Odyssey
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100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
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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.
The playwrights of Athens dramatized the tragic tales of kings, including Xerxes of Persia, whose overweening ambitions led the rulers to ruin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
The single-actor format and clever use of camerawork give visual expression to the novel’s themes of overweening egotism and existential dread.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
I have long sided unreservedly with Truman on the issue — not so much on principle, I must admit, as because of MacArthur’s overweening, self-aggrandizing arrogance.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2023
It’s as if their mother’s overweening nature couldn’t be defeated; it could only be eclipsed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2023
So overweening, now they have killed my peaceful kine, my joy at morning when I climbed the sky of stars, and evening, when I bore westward from heaven.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
