Word.ws English Dictionary

overstep the line

overstep the line is the alternative form of overstep the mark.

Meaning of overstep the mark

Verb

overstep the mark (third-person singular simple present oversteps the mark, present participle overstepping the mark, simple past and past participle overstepped the mark)

  1. (idiomatic) To behave in an unacceptable or morally reprehensible way.
    • "If Russia mobilises, it is for defence. No nation in the world would dream of attacking Germany, nor has Germany the slightest intention of imperilling her coming supremacy amongst the nations by such crude methods as military enterprise. Servia must be punished, naturally, but to that, in...1920, Edward Phillips Oppenheim, The Great Impersonation, Chapter 25

Forms of overstep the line

third-person singular presentoversteps the line
present participleoverstepping the line
past participleoverstepped the line
pastoverstepped the line

Questions about overstep the line

What is overstep the line the alternative form of?
Overstep the line is the alternative form of overstep the mark.

Words near overstep the line in the dictionary

  1. oversteer
  2. oversteered
  3. oversteering
  4. oversteers
  5. overstep
  6. overstep the line
  7. overstep the mark
  8. overstepped
  9. overstepped the line
  10. overstepped the mark
  11. overstepper

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overstep the line (page history and authors); overstep the mark (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “overstep the line.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overstep_the_line. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.