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overweening

over·wee·ning

UK/əʊvəˈwiːnɪŋ/ US/oʊvɚˈwinɪŋ/ uncommon archaic

adjective

1.

unrestrained in especially feelings

  • “extravagant praise”
  • “exuberant compliments”
  • “overweening ambition”
  • “overweening greed”
Synonyms
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2.

presumptuously arrogant

  • “had a witty but overweening manner”
  • “no idea how overweening he would be” S.V.Benet
  • “getting a little uppity and needed to be slapped down” NY Times
Synonyms
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Origin

From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing. Cognate with obsolete Dutch overwanig, overwaand (“presumptuous; cocky; conceited”).

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.