overthink

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *-er

Proto-Indo-European *upér

Proto-Germanic *uber

Old English ofer-

Middle English over-

English over-

Proto-Indo-European *teng-der.

Proto-Indo-European *tong-éye-ti

Proto-Germanic *þankijaną

Proto-West Germanic *þankijan

Old English þenċan

Middle English thinken

English think

English overthink

From over- + think.

Verb

overthink (third-person singular simple present overthinks, present participle overthinking, simple past and past participle overthought)

1. To think or analyze too much.

   Antonym: underthink

   Don't overthink the problem. It's not that difficult.

   • 2026 June 14, Bayliss Wagner, “Trump’s U.F.C. Event Comes as Backing of Young Men, Once a Strength, Wanes”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Mr. Trump “thinks about it as just like whatever entertains him, but as he’s doing that, he’s bringing people together,’” Mr. Ceraso said in a phone interview on Sunday before the event. Democrats, he added, should “stop trying to overthink it.”

2. (rare) To think too highly (of); overestimate

   Synonyms: overapproximate, overstate; see also Thesaurus:overestimate

   Antonyms: understate; see also Thesaurus:underestimate

   • 1859, Henry Ward Beecher, Sermons, page 25:

     So to think of self as not to overthink — to think of yourself with sober, moral judgment.

Derived terms

• overthinker

Descendants

• →⇒ Turkish: overthinklemek

Translations

to think or analyze too much

• Catalan: pensar massa, pensar[-lo] massa
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 想太多

• Finnish: ylimiettiä, yliajatella
• French: surpenser, surréfléchir
• German: zerdenken (de)
• Greek: πολυσκέφτομαι (polyskéftomai)
• Hungarian: túlagyal (slang), túl sokat gondolkodik/agyal/filozofál
• Indonesian: lajak pikir, pikir berlebih
• Spanish: pensar(lo) demasiado / demasiadamente, pensar(lo) de más, pensar(se / lo) / pensárselo dos veces

to think (sth) over

• German: abwägen (de), überdenken (de), überlegen (de)
• Indonesian: terus memikirkan

Etymology 2

From Middle English *overthenken, *overthenchen (compare Middle English overthinken (“to grieve; have regrets; be sorry; be anxious”)), from Old English oferþenċan (“to think over; consider”), equivalent to over- +‎ think.

Verb

overthink (third-person singular simple present overthinks, present participle overthinking, simple past and past participle overthought)

2. (archaic) To think about; think over

   Synonyms: bethink, mull, quander; see also Thesaurus:ponder

   • 1695, J.D. Albany, The Banishment of poverty:

     But when I dred that wou'd not work,
     I overthought me of a Wile
     How I might at my leisure lurk,
     My graceless Guardain to beguile.

Anagrams

• think over