How to use overreach in a sentence

11 example sentences · verb, noun

Overreach means to reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree. Example: “They have framed this sentencing bill as not caring about victims; we have to frame it as preventing government overreach.”

Examples of overreach by meaning

verbTo reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.

Don't overreach when reaching for the function keys.2004 December, Cheryl Price, Julia Wix, Produce Complex Business Documents (Word 2003), Chatswood, N.S.W.: Software Publications, →ISBN...

verbTo do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability; to overextend.

The coolness displayed towards the colonies by successive British Governments has at least prevented the empire-builders from overreaching themselves.1947, C[harles] E[dmund] Carrington, “Imperialism in Retreat”, in An Exposition of Empire (Current Problems; 28), Cambridge...
Professionals must remind themselves not to overreach the extent of their data and not to substitute values for scientifically supported facts, and must know when to inform fact-finders about the extent of the limits to knowledge.2012, Steven N. Sparta, “Introduction”, in Kathryn F. Kuehnle, Leslie M. Drozd, editors, Parenting Plan Evaluations: Applied Research for...
There has been some criticism that the ORR is overreaching its remit in making this decision.2023 November 15, Ian Prosser talks to Stefanie Foster, “A healthy person is a more productive person”, in RAIL, number 996, page 33

nounAn act of extending or reaching over, especially if too far or too much; overextension.

We thought it was necessary, But I'm sympathetic to folks who looked at it and said, this is looking like potential overreach.2010 November 3, Barack Obama, “The President’s News Conference: November 3, 2010”, in Barack Obama: 2010 (In Two Books) (Public Papers of...
It was tainted by statistical overreach, the unconscious biases of its author, and by the political demands being placed upon the BRB by government.2023 March 8, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 49

More sentences with overreach

They have framed this sentencing bill as not caring about victims; we have to frame it as preventing government overreach.From the entry frame
“During the worst part of the pandemic even jeans seemed like an overreach, requiring that complex button and zipper action.2022 April 12, Rhonda Garelick, “Am I Done Suffering for Fashion?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2022. From the entry cardigan
So it is important to take seriously the scope to configure what your research will be about, avoiding both overreaching topics and underambition.2003, Patrick Dunleavy, Authoring a PhD, →ISBN. From the entry underambition
West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin was not impressed with the executive orders, calling them a “troubling example” of executive overreach that “could harm us for generations.”2025 January 14, Leah Willingham, “West Virginia governor axes DEI and enacts vaccine exemptions on first full day in office”, in AP News…. From the entry mike
China's three decades of unprecedented growth and military modernisation, coupled with US global overreach and budget burdens, signal a considerable shift in greatpower hegemony in the Indo-Asia Pacific (IAP).2017, Tiang Boon Hoo, Chinese Foreign Policy Under Xi, →ISBN. From the entry Indo-Asia

Meaning of overreach

verb To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
verb To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (UK, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.
verb To do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability; to overextend.

Full definition of overreach

Questions about overreach in a sentence

How do you use overreach in a sentence?: Overreach is used as a verb and noun. For example: “They have framed this sentencing bill as not caring about victims; we have to frame it as preventing government overreach.”
What is a short sentence with overreach?: “Don't overreach when reaching for the function keys.”
What does overreach mean?: Overreach means to reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.

Adapted from Wiktionary: overreach (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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