Meanings
comparative more overconscientious · superlative most overconscientious
- Excessively conscientious.
Are you an obsessive lover of routine, overconscientious, and think cleanliness is next to godliness? Beware. You may be nearly twice as likely to die from a heart attack as more laid back friends and colleagues.
2001 March 15, James Meikle, “Fussing can double risk of heart attack”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 May 20141 more example
If he were not over conſciencious in that, vnder colour of ſome treatie, parlie or accord, to take any advantage of his enemies: he was as little ſcrupulous, in that he required no other vertue in his Souldiers, but valour; […]
1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Observations concerning the meanes to warre after the maner of Iulius Cæsar”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 422Synonyms: hyperconscientious
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveExcessively conscientious.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*úp
- Proto-Indo-European*upér
- Proto-Germanic*uber
- Old Englishofer-
- Middle Englishover-
- Englishover-
- Englishconscientious
- Englishoverconscientious
From over- + conscientious.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
overconscientious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overconscientious
“overconscientious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overconscientious. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overconscientious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overconscientious.
Source: overconscientious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.