overprotective
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- overprotectiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of overprotective
First recorded in 1925–30; over- + protective
Vocabulary lists containing overprotective
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.
For many years American Jewish writing seemed to be all about sons—sons launched from Chicago, Brooklyn and the Bronx, sons of overprotective mothers, comics punning on “the son also rises.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
He’s positively delightful here, whether being overprotective of Deschanel or suffering her ministrations, dancing around Curtis, or fencing with Jake Johnson’s Nick.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025
That can make people vulnerable, and it can also make well-intentioned children overprotective.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 1, 2025
It suggested however that the fault did not just lie with academic institutions, remarking that parents were "overprotective" of their children when accused of misbehaviour, and that the law hindered teachers' ability to discipline pupils.
From BBC • Oct. 5, 2022
“My parents are still married. I have to call them at the same time every night—in thirty minutes, actually. They're overprotective, I guess, but normal. We're really boring.”
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
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.
