Dictionary

over the top en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The adjectival form first appears c. 1935. See cite below. The adverbial form (in reference to World War I) first appears c. 1915.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; outrageous.
   • You might have expected a pop star known for shows in which she has someone vomit paint on to the stage to come up with something similarly over the top for a live rendition of The Sound of Music. But Gaga chose to take the traditional route. 2015 February 23, “Oscars 2015: 10 things we learned”, in The Guardian (London):
   • I had come to regard the New Capitalism as an experiment till, in 1929, the whole thing went over the top and slid down to an utter collapse. 1938, Lincoln Steffens, Granville Hicks, Carl Sandburg, The Letters of Lincoln Steffens, Volume 2, page 1007:
   • Myers went over the top in the clubhouse, berating a reporter who questioned Myers' terminology. 2007 August 26, Bruce Jenkins, “The Chronicle Sports Columnist Blog”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 10 Dec 2007:
2. Delivered across the Internet to a television or similar device.
   • Back to the BYOA strategy, that we'll continue to create, you know, a BYOA product that we sell over the top, is that there will be a lot of customers that will want to do business with us that way. 2005 February 4, “Q4 2004 Time Warner Inc. Earnings Conference Call - Final”, in Fair Disclosure Wire:
   • The question was you don't have to hard cut the network over from proprietary to open. You can actually do it in stages and this device can lay over the top of existing proprietary networks. 2004 August 18, “ARRIS Investor Conference Webcast - Final”, in Fair Disclosure Wire:
3. (of agrichemical application) Downward onto plants in the field, as contrasted with other routes of administration.
   • over-the-top dicamba for dicamba-tolerant crops

Forms

Relateds

top-down (from above, onto the top) · set-top box

Synonyms

excessive · too much · exaggerated · OTT

over the top en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The adjectival form first appears c. 1935. See cite below. The adverbial form (in reference to World War I) first appears c. 1915.

Meanings

1. Egregiously; beyond compare.
   • On InfoWars, Alex Jones told his audience, "This is over the top sickening. Next they'll say Jeffrey Epstein never even existed. This is the swamp winning. No one is buying this." 2025 July 10, Jesus Mesa, “'We've Been Played': MAGA Faces Its Own Disappointment With Trump”, in Newsweek:
2. (World-War-I, not-comparable) Over the parapet of a trench, especially at the start of a futile attack.
   • The men were sent over the top to their certain death.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see over, the, top.

Forms

Translations (29)

mk претеран (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · nl overdreven (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · es desmesuradamente (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · pt exagerado (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · pt excessivo (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · de des Guten zu viel (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · nl te veel van het goede (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · de übertrieben (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · es opadamente (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · cs přehnaný (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · de zuviel des Guten (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · sv överdådig (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · el επιφυής (delivered across the Internet to a television or similar device) · fi yliampuva (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · es exageradamente (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · tr haddinden fazla (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · de etwas zu weit gehend (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · th เว่อร์ (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · es de manera subida de tono (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · tr aşırı (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · ro exagerat (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · hu túlzás (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · de schon nicht mehr schön (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · tr fazladan (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · pt acima do limite (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · fi liika (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · ro din cale-afară (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · sv överdriven (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated) · es dramáticamente (beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated)