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overreach

over·reach/ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/verb, noun

overreach is spelled O-V-E-R-R-E-A-C-H: 9 letters and 2 syllables (over·reach). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, overreach means “To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in overreach?

Letters9: O-V-E-R-R-E-A-C-H
Syllables2: over·reach
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 44,767th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is overreach?

Overreach appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce overreach?

  • UK /ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/
  • US /ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/

As a noun (“An act of extending or reaching over, especially if too far…”): /ˈəʊvə(ˌ)ɹiːt͡ʃ/, /ˈoʊvə(ɹ)ˌɹit͡ʃ/.

Overreach has 2 syllables, split over·reach in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-overreach2.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-overreach1.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with overreach?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as overreach from its last stressed vowel (/itʃ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of overreach

  • overreaches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • overreaching participle, present
  • overreached participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does overreach mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.

  2. 2

    To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (UK, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.

  3. 3

    To do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability; to overextend.

  4. 4

    Of a horse: to strike the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot.

  5. 5

    archaicTo deceive, to swindle.

  6. 6

    To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.

  7. 7

    archaicTo get the better of, especially by artifice or cunning; to outwit.

noun

  1. 1

    An act of extending or reaching over, especially if too far or too much; overextension.

  2. 2

    Of a horse: an act of striking the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot; an injury caused by this action.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Overreach in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanüberschreiten, über etwas hinausgehen (to reach above or beyond, especially to an…), sich unangemessen verhalten hinsichtlich, überstrapazieren, überspannen (to do something beyond an appropriate limit, or…), Übergriffigkeit (act of extending or reaching over, especially…)
Spanishextralimitarse (to reach above or beyond, especially to an…), pasarse de frenada (to do something beyond an appropriate limit, or…), extralimitación (act of extending or reaching over, especially…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does overreach come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after overreach