Word.ws English Dictionary

overstepping the mark

overstepping the mark is the present participle and gerund 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

Questions about overstepping the mark

What is overstepping the mark the present participle and gerund of?
Overstepping the mark is the present participle and gerund of overstep the mark.

Words near overstepping the mark in the dictionary

  1. overstepped the mark
  2. overstepper
  3. oversteppers
  4. overstepping
  5. overstepping the line
  6. overstepping the mark
  7. oversteps
  8. oversteps the line
  9. oversteps the mark
  10. overstept
  11. overstiff

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overstepping the mark (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.

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Cite this entry: “overstepping the mark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overstepping_the_mark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.