Word.ws English Dictionary

going overboard

going overboard is the present participle and gerund of go overboard.

Meaning of go overboard

Verb

go overboard (third-person singular simple present goes overboard, present participle going overboard, simple past went overboard, past participle gone overboard)

  1. To fall out of a vessel.
    • Attach the buoys so they don't go overboard.
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To go too far; to exceed reasonable bounds.
    • You can decorate the new room, but don't go overboard with surreal paintings.
    Synonyms:
    get carried away, gild the lily, overegg, over-egg the pudding, overdo, take (something) too far

Questions about going overboard

What is going overboard the present participle and gerund of?
Going overboard is the present participle and gerund of go overboard.

Words near going overboard in the dictionary

  1. going over as well as a lead balloon
  2. going over like a lead balloon
  3. going over like a lead zeppelin
  4. going over someone's head
  5. going over to the majority
  6. going overboard
  7. going overs
  8. going past
  9. going pear shaped
  10. going pear-shaped
  11. going pearshaped

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: going overboard (page history and authors); go overboard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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