Word of the Day

: February 15, 2015

overweening

adjective oh-ver-WEE-ning

What It Means

1 : arrogant, presumptuous

2 : immoderate, exaggerated

overweening in Context

With her overweening ego, the actress expected to be recognized and flattered by everyone she met.

"The idea that an overweening federal government is a threat to both freedom and equality (not to mention prosperity) goes back to Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and some other fairly respectable personages." - Jonathan Rauch, The New York Times, January 4, 2015

Did You Know?

"The overweening conceit which the greater part of men have of their own abilities is an ancient evil remarked by the philosophers and moralists of all ages." So wrote Adam Smith in his The Wealth of Nations. But while overweening conceit might be an age-old evil, the word overweening has only been part of English since the 14th century. It developed from the Middle English *overwening, the present participle of the verb overwenen, which meant "to be arrogant." That term derived in turn from wenen, which meant "to think" or "to imagine." Today, the adjective overweening is the most widely used of the wenen descendants, but historical texts also occasionally include overween, a term for thinking too highly of your own opinion.*