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Added 10 October 2026

overreach

/ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/ verb

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about overreach at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Fail by aiming too high or trying too hard.
Beat through cleverness and wit.
I beat the traffic

Origin

The verb is from Middle English overrechen (“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”) [and other forms], equivalent to over- + reach; the noun is derived from the verb or from the phrase to reach over.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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