Overstrain

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    excessive strain
  2. 2
    too much strain wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To subject to an excessive demand on strength, resources, abilities, or the imagination. ambitransitive

    "The very phrase of "generous forbearance" shocked her as overstrained; but she did marvel that Lord Avonleigh felt neither pained nor embarrassed in a situation where such sensations seemed inevitable."

  2. 2
    strain excessively wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
beatbloatbreaking pointburn outcarry too fardebilitate

Example

More examples

"The very phrase of "generous forbearance" shocked her as overstrained; but she did marvel that Lord Avonleigh felt neither pained nor embarrassed in a situation where such sensations seemed inevitable."

Etymology

From over- + strain.

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