Overforward

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Excessively forward.; Too bold; too quick to act and/or too emphatic of expression.

    "And tho' a Man may have been often mis-us'd upon this account, there are still some People so modest, and will esteem so well of a kind Offer, that 'twill be frequently a Man's Duty to run the Hazard of his Service being slighted, rather than not profer his Assistance to a poor honest Man, that has not the Face to ask it: And to be overforward to do good is so great a Rarity, it ought never to be difcourag'd."

  2. 2
    Excessively forward.; Arrived at too quickly or expressed too openly.

    "Nay, till my second Thoughts check'd the overforward Impetuosity of my first, I was about to add, Since God resents an infinite satisfaction in the Accomplishment of his own Will, your Making over your whole Will to God, will impart to you that Felicity, proportioned to the degree of the Resignment."

  3. 3
    Excessively forward.; Premature.

    "I the rather say this to you, as you seem, in your last, to condemn ( which I am much pleased with ) the hasty and overforward prescriptions of beginners."

  4. 4
    Excessively forward.; Incautious.

    "What ? do the Bishops fit to govern the Church ? undoubtedly He did not , nor do any of them : and had not his fear pull'd him by the sleeve , and given a check to his overforward Tongue, no doubt but he would have produced all the strong Reasons of the Cabal for the proving of the Negative."

Example

More examples

"And tho' a Man may have been often mis-us'd upon this account, there are still some People so modest, and will esteem so well of a kind Offer, that 'twill be frequently a Man's Duty to run the Hazard of his Service being slighted, rather than not profer his Assistance to a poor honest Man, that has not the Face to ask it: And to be overforward to do good is so great a Rarity, it ought never to be difcourag'd."

Etymology

From over- + forward.

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