Word.ws English Dictionary

over one's head

over one's head adjective: more complex or confusing than one can understand; beyond one’s comprehension.

Adjective

over one’s head

  1. (idiomatic) More complex or confusing than one can understand; beyond one’s comprehension.
    • This is way over my head. Can you explain it more simply?
  2. (idiomatic) More than one can handle; too much (especially in over one's head).
    • I’m in over my head on this project. Can you help?
    • Fuck Waist Deep, I'm in over my head / But it's cool, I'ma make it, I'm Good like Meagan2009, “I Can’t Feel My Face”, in Da Drought 3, performed by Lil Wayne
  3. (idiomatic) Performing at a level greatly superior to one's usual level of performance.
    • He just shot a spectacularly over his head round of golf and beat all of us.
  4. (idiomatic) Directed to someone with authority over the person, so as to avoid requiring the approval of the person himself or herself.
    • [Y]ou suspect that he's building a case to go over your head and talk to your boss about performance in your section.2005, Robert H. Vaughn, The Professional Trainer: A Comprehensive Guide, page 121
  5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see over, head.

Synonyms of over one's head

Questions about over one's head

What does over one's head mean?
Over one's head means more complex or confusing than one can understand; beyond one’s comprehension.
What part of speech is over one's head?
Over one's head is an adjective.

Words near over one's head in the dictionary

  1. over light
  2. over medium
  3. over my dead body
  4. over night
  5. over nine thousand
  6. over one's head
  7. over one's skis
  8. over open sights
  9. over rate
  10. over rates
  11. over square

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: over one's head (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-over one's head.ogg.

Cite this entry: “over one's head.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/over_one%27s_head. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.