overdescribe

O1V4E1R1D2E1S1C3R1I1B3E1

verb

To provide an overly detailed description.

Scrabble 20
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Meanings

verboverdescribe (third-person singular simple present overdescribes, present participle overdescribing, simple past and past participle overdescribed)

present singular third person overdescribes · participle present overdescribing · participle past overdescribed · past overdescribed

  1. To provide an overly detailed description.

    Never overdescribe your setting. Why run the risk of boring readers?

    1998, James V. Smith, You Can Write a Novel, →ISBN, page 44
    2 more examples

    There is a third reason for misdescription: the drafter's irrepressible impulse to overdescribe.

    2012, Leo Katz, Bad Acts and Guilty Minds: Conundrums of the Criminal Law, →ISBN

    We need to go through and edit our action lines; there's no need to overwrite them or overdescribe things.

    2018, Neil Landau, TV Writing On Demand: Creating Great Content in the Digital Era, →ISBN

Origin

From over- + describe.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

overdescribe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overdescribe

MLA

“overdescribe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overdescribe. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overdescribe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overdescribe.

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