Standard Lemma guide

overprotective

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˌoʊvɚpɹəˈtɛktɪv/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌəʊvəpɹəˈtɛktɪv/
  • rhymes with -ɛktɪv
  • CMU ARPABET: OW2 V ER0 P R AH0 T EH1 K T AH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Excessively protective, wanting to give too much protection (especially to children).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: underprotective

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

overly protective

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • overprotective parents

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- Medieval Latin prōtēctīvusbor. English protective English overprotective From over- + protective.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: sobreprotector — excessively protective
  • Finnish: ylisuojeleva — excessively protective
  • German: überfürsorglich — excessively protective
  • Greek: υπερπροστατευτικός (yperprostateftikós) — excessively protective
  • Japanese: 過保護な (kahogo na) — excessively protective
  • Polish: nadopiekuńczy — excessively protective
  • Portuguese: superprotetor — excessively protective
  • Swedish: överbeskyddande — excessively protective