noun ·5 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A reaction that is excessive. countable, uncountable

   "She had every right to dump you, but cutting up all your clothes after she did so was an overreaction."

2. 2
   an excessive reaction; a reaction with inappropriate emotional behavior wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

bigotryexaggerationexcessivenessextravaganceextremismfanaticism

Antonyms

All antonyms

underreaction

Example

More examples

"She had every right to dump you, but cutting up all your clothes after she did so was an overreaction."

Etymology

From over- + reaction.

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