Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To press down on or overwhelm with physical force.
- transitive verb To dominate or overcome.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To bear down; overpower; bring under; overwhelm; overcome by superior force: literally or figuratively.
- To bear or impel across or along.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To bear fruit or offspring to excess; to be too prolific.
- transitive verb To bear down or carry down, as by excess of weight, power, force, etc.; to overcome; to suppress.
- transitive verb To domineer over; to overcome by insolence.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To crush or press down on with physical force.
- verb intransitive To prevail over, as if by superior weight or force; dominate.
- verb intransitive To be more important than; outweigh.
- verb intransitive To bear an overabundance of fruit or offspring.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb overcome
- verb bear too much
- verb contract the abdominal muscles during childbirth to ease delivery
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word overbear.
Examples
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
-
But don't keep your little ones away from Bell's fantastic YA debut on that basis: she treats the thread concerned with the soulless wake with a gentle touch that never threatens to overbear on the more jovial remainder of her novel.
-
Alessan will not have me overbear, though I keep telling him that I am happiest pregnant and never suffer as others have from being in that condition.
-
But don't keep your little ones away from Bell's fantastic YA debut on that basis: she treats the thread concerned with the soulless wake with a gentle touch that never threatens to overbear on the more jovial remainder of her novel.
-
I go out of my way to be polite, to listen, to not overbear with my opinions.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.