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Glite Dictionary
😣 Too much stress 💪 To push too hard
to overstrain

to overstrain

6.5
To push yourself or something too hard so it breaks and you become very tired
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərˈstreɪn/
translation icon : sobrecargar
  • If you keep lifting heavy weights without resting, you may overstrain your muscles and risk injury.

Examples

  • While the police may be simply too overstrained to handle e-mail abuse, at the very least, PZ could have sought professional help if he wanted to find the perpetrators.

    Blog text (1)

  • The tools that we operated so easily yesterday now seemed like weights, heavy enough to cause us to overstrain ourselves.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Logic is a wonderful thing, but it can, after all, be overstrained.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • He decided to take a break from running to avoid overstraining himself after feeling pain in his knee.

  • She had to slow down her workout routine because she was worried that overstraining could lead to an injury.

Synonyms

to strain
vsto overstrain
87 4.2

To use a lot of effort to do something difficult

implies a further step toward causing damage or severe exhaustion
to overdo
vsto overstrain
58 3.6

Do something too much, more than needed

is more about overexertion that risks physical damage or collapse
to go overboard
vsto overstrain
  • Informal
45 4.4

To do something more than is needed

narrows this to excessive exertion that can physically break or harm
to overextend
vsto overstrain
19 6.3

To try to do more than you can handle and cause strain

implies a stronger physical stretching risk leading to harm
to overwork
vsto overstrain
15 4.1

To make someone work too much so they become very tired or ill

emphasizes excess that can physically stretch or permanently damage
to fatigue
vsto overstrain
11 4.6

To make someone very tired by hard work or long effort

points more to stretching or forcing until harm or breakdown occurs
to tire out
vsto overstrain
10 2.1

To make a person very tired by using up their energy

adds the risk that such use can stretch or damage body or items
to push to the limit
vsto overstrain
7 5.1

Make a person or thing work as hard as possible until they cannot keep going

adds the consequence that testing may stretch limits into harm
to overexert
vsto overstrain
4 6.5

Make more effort than your body or mind can handle

leans more toward causing real breakdown or lasting harm
to overtire
vsto overstrain
3 6.8

To make someone very tired by doing too much

adds the stronger idea of stretching beyond safe limits to harm
to overexert oneself
vsto overstrain
3 7.2

Make too much effort with your body or mind so it is unhealthy

stresses extending effort until serious harm or collapse happens
to overdrive
vsto overstrain
1 6.3

To make someone work too hard until they are tired

adds the sense of stretching limits until damage or failure occurs
to push it to the limit
vsto overstrain
  • Informal
1 7.2

Use all your energy and take big risks to test your skill

focuses more on physical stretching and risk of lasting damage
to overstress
vsto overstrain
1 4.4

To put too much strain on the body or mind

stresses more toward stretching until damage or severe exhaustion
to extend oneself
vsto overstrain
1 6.9

To make a big effort beyond your usual limits

warns that such effort can stretch limits enough to cause harm
to overstretch
vsto overstrain
1 5.6

To pull a muscle too far and hurt it

is broader, applying to bodies, objects, or people up to damage
to overfatigue
vsto overstrain
8.4

To make someone very tired so they cannot work or think well

suggests a more forceful stretching that can produce real damage
to overweary
vsto overstrain
  • Archaic
9.5

To make someone very tired by doing too much without rest

carries a clearer warning of pushing until physical damage happens
to outwear
vsto overstrain
8.3

To make someone very tired by long, hard effort

focuses more on immediate overstretching that can cause injury
to run off someone's feet
vsto overstrain
  • UK
7.1

To make someone very busy and tired with too much work

suggests a more physical stretching or forcing that risks injury
to break one's back
vsto overstrain
  • Informal
6.0

To work very hard at something until you are very tired

adds the sense of pushing beyond limits until damage may occur
to push into overdrive
vsto overstrain
6.1

To work much harder and faster to get something done

implies pushing that intensity until stretching or damage happens

Antonyms

to rest
816 1.0

To stop activity to relax or sleep and get energy back

How Strained

to overstrain
6.5
to overwork
15 4.1
to strain
87 4.2

Surface Forms

overstrain infinitive
overstrained past
overstrained past participle
overstraining present participle
overstrains third person singular

Morphology

overstrain = strain (transparent) = over + strain

Standard productive prefixation with 'over-' meaning 'excessively' applied to the verb 'strain', so the action is clearly 'to exert excessively'.

Etymology

Overstrain comes from over- 'too much' and strain 'to stretch' or 'push'. Think of lifting a weight until your back hurts or a bridge carrying too much load; to overstrain is to use or stretch something so much that it becomes damaged or very tired.