Word.ws English Dictionary

overboss

overboss noun: a boss of underbosses in a criminal organization.

Noun

overboss (plural overbosses)

  1. A boss of underbosses in a criminal organization.
    • But Buscetta neglected to inform his overboss about his extracurricular activity in crime.1991, William Balsamo, George Carpozi, Crime Incorporated Or Under the Clock, →ISBN
    • Five years later Trillot had proven his worth to a local Tenloss syndicate, and two years after that he resigned from Cestus Cybernetics to work directly for the overboss himself.2004, Steven Barnes, The Hive, page 89

Verb

overboss (third-person singular simple present overbosses, present participle overbossing, simple past and past participle overbossed)

  1. To micromanage.
    • Those who refuse to take responsibility argue that what ails people is that they are, or have been, overbossed, and not left enough on their own to develop their natural good nature.1953, Rhoda Kellogg, Babies need fathers, too, page 191
    • Both nursing and nonnursing students viewed nurses as respected and hardworking; however, more of the nonnursing than nursing students considered nurses to be overbossed and to have little chance for advancement or independent thinking.1975, Helen S. Astin, Allison Parelman, Anne E. Fisher, Sex Roles: A Research Bibliography, page 252

Examples of overboss in a sentence

  • His overboss was constantly on his back checking, making sure the money was coming in.2017, Alastair Macleod, Illegal, →ISBN:
  • Either they‟re overbossed or underbossed.2006, Mary Edwards Wertsch, Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress, →ISBN:

Forms of overboss

Noun
pluraloverbosses
Verb
third-person singular presentoverbosses
present participleoverbossing
past participleoverbossed
pastoverbossed

Origin of overboss

From over- + boss.

Questions about overboss

What does overboss mean?
Overboss means a boss of underbosses in a criminal organization.
How do you use overboss in a sentence?
His overboss was constantly on his back checking, making sure the money was coming in.
What part of speech is overboss?
Overboss can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of overboss?
The plural of overboss is overbosses.

Words near overboss in the dictionary

  1. overborne
  2. overborrow
  3. overborrowed
  4. overborrowing
  5. overborrows
  6. overboss
  7. overbossed
  8. overbosses
  9. overbossing
  10. overbossy
  11. overbought

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overboss (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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