overweening en · ADJ · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /əʊvəˈwiːnɪŋ/ (UK)
- /oʊvɚˈwinɪŋ/ (General-American)
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing. Cognate with obsolete Dutch overwanig, overwaand (“presumptuous; cocky; conceited”).
Meanings
-
Unduly confident; (sometimes also) arrogant.
No success rendered him overweening and no disaster was ever known to stagger his firmness.
1870, Carl Schurz, George H. Thomas Eulogy:She wins one modeling contest in Montana and suddenly she’s overweening.
The Valley prizes overweening ambition but expects it to be “rifle-focussed” on making the world’s best houseboat-rental platform or Cognac-delivery service.
2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker:The offer freely given was freely accepted, this gentleman already standing high in their opinion from his conduct to the Count; nor could they doubt that Lady Anne had lost herself many years of pleasant, and probably profitable intercourse with him, from her own acrimony of temper and overweening pride of manners;[…]
1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LXIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 175:Heere's an ouer-weening rogue.
c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v], page 263, column 2:The Senate was displaying an overweening hauteur as if it were the government.
1908, Frederic Bancroft, William A. Dunning, A Sketch of Carl Schurz’s Political Career:Who could miss this real-life king’s deft allusion to the importunities of the overweening pseudo-king in the White House? Democrats certainly didn’t. They stood and cheered.
2026 May 2, Simon Tisdall, “The king went to Washington to save Britain’s bacon. He may also have shown the US how to save itself”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:While they ultimately came to the same conclusion, the pre-emptive tweet made it harder to rebut the court's judgment that they were “supine servants of an overweening master”.
2024 May 18, Tabby Kinder, Stephen Morris, “Tesla chair on Musk: ‘I might wake up to a tweet. I don’t wake up to a strategy shift’”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15:
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Exaggerated, excessive.
The idea that an overweening federal government is a threat to both freedom and equality (not to mention prosperity) goes back to Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and some other fairly respectable personages.
2015 January 4, Jonathan Rauch, “How to Make Men Free”, in NY Times:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most overweening | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| over-weening | alternative | lexicographic | |
| more overweening | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Antonyms
uncertain · timid · appropriate · unconfident · moderate · underconfident · due · apropos · unsure
Deriveds
overweeningness · overweeningly
Synonyms
boastful · haughty · de trop · presumptuous · disdainful · egotistical · self-important · snobbish · over the top · immoderate · overweening · arrogant · overmuch · big-headed · nimious · horrendous · buggish · haut · snotty · presumptuous · flatulent · ostentatious · supercilious · blustery · pretentious · biggity · la-di-da · prodigal · grandiose · full of oneself · intemperate · stout · imperious · bombastic · toplofty · overconfident · uppity · pompous · unrestrained · lordly · uppy · chesty · stuck up · turgescent · turgid · glorious · hoity-toity · unreasonable · undue · hankty · lavish · thrasonical · priggish · conceited · domineering · flaunting · high-hat · entitled · insolent · conceited · extravagant · excessive · hubristical · toploftical · devilish · high and mighty · hubristic · airy · upstage · overweening · overbearing · unmeasured · holier-than-thou · extreme · cocky · thrasonic · authoritarian · orgulous · highfalutin · snooty · obscene · sanctimonious · high-handed · puffed up · unrestrained · immoderate · vain · haught · uppish · wanton · inflated · tumid
Translations (22)
ga mórchúiseach (over-confident) · ru самонаде́янный (over-confident) · grc ὑπέρβιος (over-confident) · de anmaßend (over-confident) · bg самонадея́н (over-confident) · de arrogant (over-confident) · ga mórtasach (over-confident) · fr arrogant (over-confident) · oc arrogant (over-confident) · ga anuallach (over-confident) · nl zelfverzekerd (over-confident) · es prepotente (over-confident) · de überheblich (over-confident) · ga leitheadach (over-confident) · ga ládasach (over-confident) · bg високоме́рен (over-confident) · ga ainteann (over-confident) · nl verwaand (over-confident) · de eingebildet (over-confident) · nl arrogant (over-confident) · ga sotalach (over-confident) · fr confiant (over-confident)