to go too far
201
4.2
- phrasal verb
:
pasarse
- She felt that her comments during the meeting had gone too far and decided to apologize.
- I went too far
- say the laws go too far
- laws go too far
So before we go too far down this road, let's start.
- So before we go too far down this road, let's start.
- Yeah, he had gone too far and he couldn't come back.
- We got to make sure we don't go too far because we could maybe overdo it.
- So we can't really go too far with that story right now.
- I, I don't know that we should go too far along that path with him.
- The unfriendly person who isn't a flatterer but goes too far on the other extreme.
- I may have gone too far and got my husband very upset with me.
- It was just a joke that went too far.
- I've changed now and it's gone too far lot.
- And I have fear of like letting it go too far and feeling too behind.
Examples
-
So before we go too far down this road, let's start.
-
I realized I had gone too far when I offended my friend with my jokes.
-
I think we have gone too far at times.
-
Well if it went too far, what would the cost be?
-
I may have gone too far and got my husband very upset with me.
-
But now things have gone too far and we're not going back.
-
Or has it gone too far?
-
I knew that one of those times we were going to go too far.
Fiction book (1996) -
But now some members of the bar think they have gone too far, and society is the big loser.
Academic text (1995) -
Of course, you don't want to go too far even with that.
Synonyms
255
4.1
To be greater than a set amount or beyond what people expect
201
3.6
To exceed a limit or what people expect
89
4.5
Act in a way that goes too far and is not right
58
3.6
Do something too much, more than needed
45
4.4
To do something more than is needed
15
6.2
To go beyond what you are allowed to do
12
7.8
To do something that breaks a law, rule, or your idea of right and wrong
11
5.9
To go beyond a limit or rule
10
5.0
Go beyond what people consider acceptable
4
5.3
Go past a limit or planned time
3
6.2
To behave in a way people think is not acceptable
1
6.3
To go past a limit people set and cause serious problems
1
5.5
To push someone or something beyond what they can manage
1
5.3
To go beyond what is reasonable or acceptable
Antonyms
How Excessive
- Informal
89
4.5
11
5.9
201
4.2
- Informal
3
6.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to exceed reasonable or acceptable limits' is directly derivable from combining 'go' (to move or enter a state) with the degree phrase 'too far' (excessively). This is a regular compositional pattern (go + degree adverb) and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the three words will readily infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Go too far comes from the simple picture of someone walking past a clear line or limit. If you go too far you pass that line, so it now means 'to do or say more than is reasonable or acceptable'.