Overweening
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s abilities; presumption, arrogance. archaic, countable, uncountable
"Let us suppresse this over-weening [translating cuider], the first foundation of the tyrannie of the wicked spirit[…]."
- 1 present participle and gerund of overween form-of, gerund, participle, present
- 1 Unduly confident; arrogant.
"She wins one modeling contest in Montana and suddenly she’s overweening."
- 2 Exaggerated, excessive.
"The idea that an overweening federal government is a threat to both freedom and equality (not to mention prosperity) goes back to Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and some other fairly respectable personages."
- 1 presumptuously arrogant wordnet
- 2 unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings wordnet
Example
More examples"She wins one modeling contest in Montana and suddenly she’s overweening."
Etymology
From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing. Cognate with obsolete Dutch overwanig, overwaand (“presumptuous; cocky; conceited”).
From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing.
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
More for "overweening"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.