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.
Seth Engel: Graduation, or Biking on Thin Air Seth Engel 2011
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
Seth Engel: Graduation, or Biking on Thin Air Seth Engel 2011
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
Seth Engel: Graduation, or Biking on Thin Air Seth Engel 2011
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
Seth Engel: Graduation, or Biking on Thin Air Seth Engel 2011
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
Seth Engel: Graduation, or Biking on Thin Air Seth Engel 2011
-
High school is when, of course, the pressure piles on, and college applications overbear even the most school-savvy.
Seth Engel: Graduation, or Biking on Thin Air Seth Engel 2011
-
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.
Archive 2010-02-01 Jeff C 2010
-
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.
Artichoke Christian Bell 2010
-
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.
Today in Fantasy: February 16, 2010 Jeff C 2010
-
I go out of my way to be polite, to listen, to not overbear with my opinions.
blog: February 2009 2009
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.