overreaction
Meaningthe act or result of overreacting
Common meaning: the act or result of overreacting (inferred)
- overtoo much; above
- reagain; back
- actdrive, lead; do, actLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 74 · scan
- ionnoun ending: act or result
‘too much’ + ‘again’ + ‘drive, lead’ → overreaction
Journey through time
- Latinagō, ēgī, āctum‘drive, lead’
- Englishoverreact‘to respond more strongly than is needed’
- Englishformed in English from overreactoverreaction‘the act or result of overreacting (inferred)’ · today
Sources & notes
Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: the act or result of overreacting. It can be inferred from any of: overreact.
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from overreact + -ion (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).
Roots
- agō, ēgī, āctum Latin “drive, lead; do, act”
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