Overtreat

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To subject to excessive medical treatment, often to such an extent as to cause adverse effects. transitive

    "The traditional physician in Astoria who overtreated me for a case of syphilis six and a half years ago to the tune of twelve penicillin shots plus three weeks' worth of penicillin pills."

Example

More examples

"The traditional physician in Astoria who overtreated me for a case of syphilis six and a half years ago to the tune of twelve penicillin shots plus three weeks' worth of penicillin pills."

Etymology

From over- + treat.

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