overbreed

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verb

To breed excessively.

OriginEnglish breed ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer- →
Scrabble 15
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Meanings

verboverbreed (third-person singular simple present overbreeds, present participle overbreeding, simple past and past participle overbred)

present singular third person overbreeds · participle present overbreeding · participle past overbred · past overbred

  1. To breed excessively.

    What happens if the dog is overbred?

    2009 February 26, Cathal Kelly, “Obama picks running (and fetching) mate”, in Toronto Star
    1 more example

    At different times in different nations the needs and the duties differ widely. Professor Ross has shown that China has suffered immeasurably because of the reckless overbreeding of its people. France is now in hazard of her national existence because of exactly the opposite cause.

    1917, Theodore Roosevelt, The Foes of Our Own Household, New York: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, page 260

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Englishbreed
  8. Englishoverbreed

From over- + breed.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with overbreed

readneedspeedleadfeedagreedindeedspreadexceedreedproceedsucceedweedReidbeaddeedcreedliedmeadgreedbleedtweedheedplead
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

overbreed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overbreed

MLA

“overbreed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overbreed. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overbreed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overbreed.

Source: overbreed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.