# overreach

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #44,985

## Definitions
1. To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
2. To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
3. To do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability; to overextend.
4. Of a horse: to strike the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot.
5. To deceive, to swindle.
6. To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.
7. To get the better of, especially by artifice or cunning; to outwit.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **overreact** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/overreach-vs-overreact)

## Common misspellings (11)
`oevrreach`, `overeach`, `overerach`, `overraech`, `overreacch`, `overreachh`, `overreahc`, `overrecah`, `ovrereach`, `ovverreach`, `voerreach`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/overreach