overweening
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /əʊvəˈwiːnɪŋ/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /oʊvɚˈwinɪŋ/
- Rhymes: -iːnɪŋ
Etymology 1
From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing. Cognate with obsolete Dutch overwanig, overwaand (“presumptuous; cocky; conceited”).
Adjective
overweening (comparative more overweening, superlative most overweening)
- Unduly confident; arrogant
- She wins one modeling contest in Montana and suddenly she’s overweening.
- Synonyms: presumptuous, conceited
- 1623, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5:
- Here's an overweening rogue!
- 1870, Carl Schurz, George H. Thomas Eulogy
- No success rendered him overweening and no disaster was ever known to stagger his firmness.
- 1908, Frederic Bancroft and William A. Dunning, A Sketch of Carl Schurz’s Political Career
- The Senate was displaying an overweening hauteur as if it were the government.
- Exaggerated, excessive.
- 2015 January 4, Jonathan Rauch, “How to Make Men Free”, in NY Times[1], retrieved 21050215:
- The idea that an overweening federal government is a threat to both freedom and equality (not to mention prosperity) goes back to Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and some other fairly respectable personages.
Derived terms
Translations
over-confident
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Etymology 2
From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing.
Noun
overweening (countable and uncountable, plural overweenings)
- (now rare) An excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s abilities; presumption, arrogance.
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
overweening
Categories:
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːnɪŋ
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms suffixed with -ing
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with rare senses
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms