1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

overextended

verb

past tense of overextend
as in overreached

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for overextended
  1. overreached
  2. broadened
  3. widened
  4. expanded
Verb
  • Ultimately, Judge Darwin ruled in favor of the California Gaming Association, reaffirming its argument that the Bureau of Gambling Control overreached by attempting to impose new regulations.
    — Noe Padilla, USA Today, 7 July 2026
  • The defense argued that the encounters were consensual and that the government had overreached.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 9 Mar. 2026
Definition of overreached
Verb
  • But top officials have also broadened restrictions for legal immigration pathways.
    — Ignacio Calderon, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026
  • The criticism then broadened, with Jewish leaders, museum donors and New York politicians publicly urging the museum to reconsider.
    — Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of broadened
Verb
  • The roof of the train shed is more than 100 years old, and as it gets repaired, the medians that sit on top of it will be widened.
    — Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Widening gap The gap between hyperscaler CDS and bank CDS has widened to around 60 basis points from roughly 0 since October of 2025, implying that hyperscaler credit risk is increasing on its own terms, Slok's research shows.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of widened
Verb
  • More Great Living Stories From Vogue The Vogue Runway app has expanded!
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 6 Sep. 2026
  • The survey found that voters favored a generic Democratic candidate for Congress over a Republican 46% to 40%, but the Democratic advantage expanded to 11 points among those who definitely plan to vote.
    — Zac Anderson, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of expanded
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

overextend
overextended
overextending
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Overextended.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overextended. Accessed 20 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of volition

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All