Standard Lemma guide

overstretch

noun · verb · 4 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

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  • rhymes with -ɛtʃ

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act of stretching something too far or beyond available resources.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To stretch too far.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1640, Charles I of England, Speech given to the Lords and Commons, at the Benquetting-House in White-Hall, 25 January, 1640, in The Works of King Charles the Martyr, London: Ric[hard] Chiswell, p. 169, If some of [the Bishops] have overstretched their power, and incroached too much upon the Temporalty, if it be so, I shall not be unwilling these things should be redressed and reformed [...]
  • 1783, Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Dublin: Whitestone et al., Volume 1, Lecture 16, p. 380, How far a Hyperbole, supposing it properly introduced, may be safely carried without overstretching it; what is the proper measure and boundary of this figure, cannot, as far as I know, be ascertained by any precise rule.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To stretch over something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

strain abnormally

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • I pulled a muscle in my leg when I jumped up
  • The athlete pulled a tendon in the competition

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pull

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: injure, wound

History

Etymology

From Middle English overstrecchen, corresponding to over- + stretch. Compare Dutch overstrekken (“to overstretch”), German überstrecken (“to overstretch”).

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Spanish: estirar demasiadamente — Translations