overreact

«overreact» in Mova's school dictionary: To react much more strongly than you need to, such as… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (overreact, overreacts, overreacted, overreacting)

meaning for a pupil

To react much more strongly than you need to, such as getting very angry or upset over something small. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and PSHE lessons, it is about controlling feelings: «Don't overreact, it was an accident.» In stories it shows a character making a small problem bigger. Phrases: don't overreact, a bit of an overreaction.

examples

• Don't overreact; it's only a scratch. tree →
• She overreacted when I borrowed her pencil. tree →
• Mum says I overreact when I lose at games. tree →
• The referee overreacted and sent him off. tree →
• I think I overreacted; sorry for shouting. tree →
• People overreacted to the rumour and bought all the bread. tree →

note

Regular verb: overreacted. Noun: overreaction. Over- means too much. Written as one word. Similar slang: freak out, lose it.

In the corpora

• A food allergy is the immune system overreacting to a food, and even a tiny amount can cause a reaction.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «overreact» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.