Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To reach or extend over or beyond.
- intransitive verb To miss by reaching too far or attempting too much.
- intransitive verb To defeat (oneself) by going too far or by doing or trying to gain too much.
- intransitive verb To get the better of, especially by deceitful cleverness; outwit.
- intransitive verb To reach or go too far.
- intransitive verb To overreach oneself.
- intransitive verb To outwit or cheat others.
- intransitive verb To strike the front part of a hind foot against the rear or side part of a forefoot or foreleg on the same side of the body. Used of a horse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To overtake.
- To reach beyond in any direction; rise above; extend or go beyond.
- To deceive by cunning, artifice, or sagacity; cheat; outwit.
- To reach or stretch too far.
- Synonyms To dupe, circumvent, cozen, gull, bamboozle, take in.
- In the manège, to strike the toe of the hind foot against the heel or shoe of the fore foot: said of a horse.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of striking the heel of the fore foot with the toe of the hind foot; -- said of horses.
- intransitive verb To reach too far.
- intransitive verb To strike the toe of the hind foot against the heel or shoe of the forefoot; -- said of horses.
- intransitive verb (Naut.) To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.
- intransitive verb To cheat by cunning or deception.
- transitive verb To reach above or beyond in any direction.
- transitive verb To deceive, or get the better of, by artifice or cunning; to outwit; to cheat.
- transitive verb To defeat one's own purpose by trying to do too much or by trying too hard or with excessive eagerness; -- used reflexively; /
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The act of striking the heel of the fore foot with the toe of the hind foot; -- said of horses.
- noun The act of extending or reaching too far,
overextension . - verb To reach above or beyond in any direction.
- verb To
deceive , orget the better of , byartifice orcunning ; tooutwit ; tocheat . - verb To reach too far
- verb To strike the toe of the hind foot against the heel or shoe of the forefoot; -- said of horses.
- verb To
sail on onetack farther than is necessary. - verb To cheat by cunning or deception.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb beat through cleverness and wit
- verb fail by aiming too high or trying too hard
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"I don't want to use the term 'overreach,' " Dunn told me, pausing for effect, "but the broad nature of the proposed regulations, both in terms of who they apply to, this gigantic universe of people, what they consider 'children's programming,' the unworkable, impracticable standards they use in their nutritional values - that's the issue."
NPR Topics: News 2011
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WASHINGTON - This week's elections around the country were brought to you by the word "overreach," specifically conservative overreach.
The Seattle Times 2011
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It is one thing to complain about government overreach from the stump, but it's another thing to read that before salmonella killed several Americans, "barns of egg producers were infested with flies, maggots, and rodents, and had overflowing manure pits."
Heather Taylor-Miesle: Tea Partiers: Be Careful What You Wish For Heather Taylor-Miesle 2010
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This sort of regulatory overreach is something people have to deal with every day.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Richard Thaler Responds to Critics of Libertarian Paternalism 2010
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The aughts were a great decade for Canadian bands, but the backlash against this overreach is going to be tremendous.
Matthew Yglesias » Canadian Indie Rock Supergroups Overreaching 2010
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"The Dems will overreach" is the understatement of the year.
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More should be commenting or reporting on the McCain overreach regarding Georgia.
On TV, A Parade of Hopefuls - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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Executive overreach is a fact, and the NYT is merely reporting the fact.
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Executive overreach is part of the emerging fascist state in the US.
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Activism/judicial overreach is in the eye of the beholder.
Comments
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