verb ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To expand or extend to an excessive degree, especially to do so beyond a safe limit; to overreach.
2. 2
   strain excessively wordnet
3. 3
   To apply (a term) to too many referents, by overextension. transitive
4. 4
   To push a pawn too far, so that it becomes vulnerable to the opponent's attacks. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

overstrainexceedhaulheaveinflateoverdevelop

Etymology

From over- + extend.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.