Word.ws English Dictionary

overarching

UK/ˌəʊvəɹˈɑːtʃɪŋ/US/ˌoʊvəɹˈɑɹt͡ʃɪŋ/

overarching is the present participle and gerund of overarch.

Adjective

overarching (comparative more overarching, superlative most overarching)

  1. Arching over; that forms an arch overhead.
    • the overarching sky
  2. (figuratively) Dominating or covering something for the most part.
    • the overarching idea of a work
    • Firstly, there needs to be an overarching plan - in the sense that each part of the rail system must be considered together, precisely because it is an integrated network.2020 May 20, David Thrower, Ian Wray, “Revisiting the plan for developing the North's rail network”, in RAIL, page 39

Meaning of overarch

Verb

overarch (third-person singular simple present overarches, present participle overarching, simple past and past participle overarched)

  1. To form an arch over something.

Noun

overarching (plural overarchings)

  1. A structure that arches over something.
    • But in this case the overarchings do not grow uniformly, but in such a manner that their rims form at least a fissure […]1875, Julius Sachs, Alfred William Bennett, William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, Text-book of Botany: Morphological and Physiological, page 27

Synonyms of overarching

Forms of overarching

Adjective
comparativemore overarching
superlativemost overarching
Noun
pluraloverarchings

Words formed from overarching

Questions about overarching

What does overarching mean?
Overarching means arching over; that forms an arch overhead.
What is overarching the present participle and gerund of?
Overarching is the present participle and gerund of overarch.
What part of speech is overarching?
Overarching can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce overarching?
Overarching is pronounced /ˌəʊvəɹˈɑːtʃɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near overarching in the dictionary

  1. overapt
  2. overarch
  3. overarched
  4. overarcher
  5. overarches
  6. overarching
  7. overarchingly
  8. overarchingness
  9. overarchings
  10. overardent
  11. overargue

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overarching (page history and authors); overarch (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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Cite this entry: “overarching.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overarching. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.