overwield

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From over- +‎ wield.

Verb[edit]

overwield (third-person singular simple present overwields, present participle overwielding, simple past and past participle overwielded)

  1. (transitive) To wield over or in excess; overpower
    • 1886, William Barnes, A Glossary of the Dorset Dialect:
      When V and N (either in en as a wordending, or the pronoun en) come together, the v often overwields the n which in its new form overwields the v that becomes b.
    • 2009, Yusuf Saad Omoiya, The Origin and British Colonial Impact on the Cosmopolitan Community of Ilorin in the 20th Century:
      This was because many of them believed that the Emir had overwielded his power against his real and imagined enemies and therefore stepped on many people's toes.
    • 2016, T. Wells, Wild Man:
      His persuasive power was overwielded, and overshadowed by his intensity, which made him seem to them on the verge of spooky.