Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use overly in a sentence

40 example sentences · adverb, adjective

Overly means to an excessive degree. Example: “Parents can be overly protective of their children.”

Examples of overly by meaning

adverbTo an excessive degree.

  • Parents can be overly protective of their children.
  • She’s a real pretty girl got to be, though I can’t say I’m overly partial to that pale, big-eyed style myself.1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 30, in Anne of Green Gables
  • Your race is overly sentimental; it distorts your judgment.1958, Robert Heinlein, chapter 11, in Have Space Suit—Will Travel, New York: Del Rey, page 238

adverbTo a high degree; very.

  • I'm not overly enthusiastic about meeting him.

More sentences with overly

  • Yesterday's oh for made him overly aggressive today at the plate.From the entry oh for
  • His upbringing had led him to act in an overly mannered way.From the entry mannered
  • If you’re overly indulging in bed rotting, reach out to a trusted friend or professional for support.2024 August 28, Angela Buttimer, Dennis Buttimer, “Productivity is important, but so are rest and recuperation: JOYFUL DAILY”, in Atlanta…. From the entry bed rotting
  • They are not the comfiest seats known to man, but nor are they overly hard or uncomfortable.2023 April 5, Pip Dunn, “'196s' giving commuters a smoother ride”, in RAIL, number 980, page 54. From the entry comfiest
  • Individually, some of these definitions fall into the common definitional trap of being overly precise.2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 7. From the entry precise
  • It's neither too sparse nor too fussy, neither overly minimalist nor overdone.2017, Niki Brantmark, Lagom (Not Too Little, Not Too Much): The Swedish Art of Living a Balanced, Happy Life, unnumbered page. From the entry lagom
  • To be overly cynical myself, that is still the macro view.2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV…. From the entry Rube Goldberg machine
  • And then jumped up and down in an overly excited, sister roommate dance.2017, Raquel Fletcher, The Year I Turned 25: A Memoir About Sex, Anxiety and a Dog Named She-Devil, →ISBN. From the entry purse puppy
  • To laugh off tempts to going overly 'blue' (any rejoiceless spirits), depressed, deflated, etc.2015, Father Yours, *John 6:66, Eternity with the TRINITY Vs Eternity with the Beast. From the entry rejoiceless
  • Overly madeup and underly dressed young women were dancing in a cluster on the floor.2014, Jass Richards, Licence to Do That. From the entry underly
  • We live in an opulent blandness—overfed, overtended, overentertained, and overly preoccupied with ourselves.2013, Stephen Mansfield, Mansfield's Book of Manly Men. From the entry overentertained
  • Douglas indicated that the East Dakota Environmental Protection regulations were overly strict.2012, Charles B. Craver, Effective Legal Negotiation and Settlement, →ISBN. From the entry East Dakota
  • The separation and isolation will send a clear message to your overly mouthy dog.2011, Tamar Geller, 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog: The Loved Dog Method, page 94. From the entry mouthy
  • I placed our properly scored, cloved, overly maraschino cherried and pineappled porker in a slow cooking oven.2010, Susan Kessen, Dear Mom and Dad. From the entry cherried
  • Fans of trash horror other and devalue slasher-cycle horror as overly commercial or nonunderground.2007 October 24, Jeffrey Sconce, Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Politics, Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 224. From the entry trash
  • Not to be overly ingenuitive, but “him” is exactly, verbally equidistant between “baby” and “John”2006 February, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wall-paper, Ohio University Press, page 111. From the entry ingenuitive
  • Fanish culture is very tribal in nature and overly concerned with superiority as fans are slans.2003 November 8, Danny Low, “Re: Mundanes' secret weapon?”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom (Usenet), message-ID…. From the entry fans are slans
  • In his nouvelle Chinoiserie, he manages to exoticize the overly familiar, disregarded patterns of everyday shmattas.2003, Parrot Talk: A Retrospective of Works by Kim MacConnel, Santa Monica Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 20. From the entry shmatta
  • But does that differ overly much from age play and daddy Dom stuff?2000 July 28, CRC, “The longer I'm here, the more I like Sherman”, in soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm (Usenet). From the entry daddy dom
  • In my large extended family, we have a term for any strange, aberrant or overly imaginative ability.1999, Rebecca Mcclanahan, “Five”, in Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books. From the entry NQR
  • She was not devout or overly religious but she went to temples and kirtans regularly.1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 137. From the entry kirtan
  • These can be called the Blaster (aggressive), the Shrinker (overly passive), or the Me (effective).1996, Maurice J. Elias with Steven E. Tobias, Social problem solving: interventions in the schools, page 49. From the entry shrinker
  • They can also act maleficently by being overly aggressive and risking iatrogenic harm with ineffective therapies.1996, Philip C. Hébert, Doing Right: A Practical Guide to Ethics for Physicians and Medical Trainees, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN…. From the entry maleficently
  • Demeanors that are apologetic and overly polite are inherently contradictory to demeanors that exhibit fear and anger.1993, “Interrogation: The Kinesics Technique”, in John J. Fay, editor, Encyclopedia of Security Management, →ISBN, page 418. From the entry demeanor
  • His void spaces are a criticism of the insipidness of the overly materialistic modern way of life.1983, Kiyoshi Takeyama, “Tadao Andô: Heir to a Tradition,”, in Perspecta, volume 20, page 180. From the entry insipidness
  • I have been in many of these overly structured and disciplined schools.1973, Harold B. Gores, “[Schools For Young Children—The Recent American Past] Panelist’s Response”, in Robert H. Anderson, editor…. From the entry confrontal
  • The battle scene with himself in the role of massacree was not overly inviting.1921, Octavus Roy Cohen, Highly Colored, page 269. From the entry massacree
  • Several tasters noted the “overly sweet” coconut aroma, carrying through to a “too sweet” flavour and “too chewy” mouthfeel.2023 April 22, Yvonne C. Lam, “Supermarket Anzac biscuit taste test: from ‘beautiful’ to ‘an intense workout’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN…. From the entry taster
  • Need another one?” Delila looked up from her glass and made her voice overly coarse in a mockery of Zeke’s.2023 June 17, Micky Carre, chapter 1, in Like Tears in Rain (Aurora Chronicles; 2), ASIN B0C4HYYT6P. From the entry hydro
  • The self-titled “Hathahaters” spun into action, slamming her for being an overly enthusiastic, excited theater dork and “try-hard.”2023 May 23, Elise Loehnen, “The Specter of Likability”, in On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be…. From the entry Hathahater
  • Moses wasn’t overly drilled, just told he would be playing right wing-back, that Conte had seen enough to know.2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian. From the entry drill
  • Older adults are also found to under-accommodate young people's needs by being overly nurturing, disapproving their behaviors, or not listening.2017, Mike Allen, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, →ISBN. From the entry under-accommodate
  • Nothing gets an overly inquisitive auntie or an uncle with unpalatable political views off your back like a Boxing Day fixture.2016, Daniel Gray, Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football. From the entry get off someone's back
  • But the overly positive group will be the first to tell you that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.2015 April 4, Alfred Conua, “Examining Why New Day Failed as a Babyface Stable”, in Bleacher Report. From the entry the darkest hour is just before the dawn
  • Nonillumination also makes sense if the site doesn't operate at night or if an overly commercial look is not desired.2015, Chris Calori, David Vanden-Eynden, Signage and Wayfinding Design, page 218. From the entry nonillumination
  • Overly fancy words are just that—overly fancy.2013, Boris Fishman, The Creative Writer, Level Three: Building Your Craft, Peace Hill Press, →ISBN. From the entry ten-cent word

Meaning of overly

  1. adverb To an excessive degree.
  2. adverb To a high degree; very.
  3. adverb Superficially.

Full definition of overly

Questions about overly in a sentence

How do you use overly in a sentence?
Overly is used as an adverb and adjective. For example: “Parents can be overly protective of their children.”
What is a short sentence with overly?
“I'm not overly enthusiastic about meeting him.”
What does overly mean?
Overly means to an excessive degree.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overly (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use overly in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/overly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.