to go overboard
45
4.4
- phrasal verb
- /ɡoʊ ˈoʊvərbɔrd/
- Informal
:
pasarse
- I went overboard with the decorations for the party and spent much more than I planned.
but a powder highlight, like is this going a little overboard? I just didn't want to.
- but a powder highlight, like is this going a little overboard? I just didn't want to.
- Now, I understand that we went a little overboard.
- When they make plans and they cancel them, you don't need to go overboard.
- But Yeston and its quest to do more than black and RGB has gone a bit overboard.
- I want us, you know, maybe to go overboard in the way we treat each other with love and respect.
- It really, really helped with the growth to, for me as a creative, I, I tend to go overboard.
- You do want to look like you've been outside, but you don't want to look offensive or just like it's just too much and it's so easy to go overboard.
Examples
-
I know I have a tendency to go overboard with the pictures.
Blog text (5) -
You know, Lloyd, I think you might've gone a little overboard with the spending today.
Fiction book (1994) -
Whilst I was buying everything I felt like I went way overboard and I bought too much.
-
I want us, you know, maybe to go overboard in the way we treat each other with love and respect.
-
Maybe I went a little overboard.
-
Your boys went a little overboard there.
-
Some of you do go overboard once in a while.
-
I'm normal, and yes, I went way, way overboard these past few days.
Blog text (6) -
It is possible to celebrate the holidays without, without going overboard on consumption.
-
Let's not go overboard.
Synonyms
201
4.2
Say or do something that is not acceptable and may hurt people
58
3.6
Do something too much, more than needed
53
5.6
To do something more extreme than people expect
26
3.7
To do more than is required to help others or complete a task
15
6.2
To go beyond what you are allowed to do
3
6.2
To behave in a way people think is not acceptable
Antonyms
How Excessive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to do something to an excessive or extreme degree' is directly derivable from combining 'go' (become/go into a state) with 'overboard' (to an excessive or unreasonable degree): together they mean 'become excessive'. This verb + adverb composition is semantically transparent and the metaphor of 'going overboard' as exceeding limits is cross-linguistically plausible, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Go overboard comes from the picture of someone falling off a boat; to go overboard is to pass the side and drop into the water. That's why it now means 'to do something too much'.