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# overreact

«overreact» in Mova's school dictionary: **To react much more strongly than you need to, such as…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (overreact, overreacts, overreacted, overreacting)

### meaning for a pupil

To react much more strongly than you need to, such as getting very angry or upset over something small. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and PSHE lessons, it is about controlling feelings: «Don't overreact, it was an accident.» In stories it shows a character making a small problem bigger. Phrases: don't overreact, a bit of an overreaction.

### examples

- Don't overreact; it's only a scratch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#x1)
- She overreacted when I borrowed her pencil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#x2)
- Mum says I overreact when I lose at games. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#x3)
- The referee overreacted and sent him off. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#x4)
- I think I overreacted; sorry for shouting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#x5)
- People overreacted to the rumour and bought all the bread. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/#x6)

### note

Regular verb: overreacted. Noun: overreaction. Over- means too much. Written as one word. Similar slang: freak out, lose it.

### In the corpora

- [A food allergy is the immune system overreacting to a food, and even a tiny amount can cause a reaction.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/13-hay-fever-allergies-and-epipens/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «overreact» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/overreact/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.