Word.ws English Dictionary

overreactive

UK/ˌəʊvəɹiˈæktɪv/US/ˌoʊ.vəɹ.ɹiˈæk.tɪv/

overreactive adjective: too reactive; tending to overreact.

Adjective

overreactive (comparative more overreactive, superlative most overreactive)

  1. Too reactive; tending to overreact.
    • overreactive parenting
    • Heʼd seen it in her eyes, and even though he knew that his mind could become overreactive in such situations, he was convinced that what heʼd seen in her was contempt.2019, Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities, Abacus (2019), page 491

Forms of overreactive

comparativemore overreactive
superlativemost overreactive
alternative formover-reactive

Origin of overreactive

From over- + reactive.

Questions about overreactive

What does overreactive mean?
Overreactive means too reactive; tending to overreact.
What part of speech is overreactive?
Overreactive is an adjective.
How do you pronounce overreactive?
Overreactive is pronounced /ˌoʊ.vəɹ.ɹiˈæk.tɪv/ (US).

Words near overreactive in the dictionary

  1. overreacter
  2. overreacters
  3. overreacting
  4. overreaction
  5. overreactions
  6. overreactive
  7. overreactivities
  8. overreactivity
  9. overreactor
  10. overreactors
  11. overreacts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overreactive (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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