Meanings
- archaicparticiplepastsimple past and past participle of overwork
comparative more overwrought · superlative most overwrought
- Excessively nervous, excited, tense, angry, anxious, or upset; overemotional; very uneasy.
Synonyms: distraught, overwhelmed, distressed, agitated, strung, wrought-up, strung
- Elaborate; baroque; overdone.
Her book includes an incisive discussion of misogyny on the New Right. [Laura K.] Field notes how “gynocracy” and “the longhouse” have become overwrought MAGA epithets for an unbearably feminized and pluralist society.
2025 December 17, Jennifer Szalai, “The Intellectuals Fueling the MAGA Movement”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Dec 20251 more example
Gated, gilded and gaudy, they have sprung up all over China: overwrought government buildings erected at vast public expense, and in stark contrast to the shoddy state of so many homes and schools. In style they range from modernist brutalism to Versailles kitsch.
2013 July 27, “Architectural bombast”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8846, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2013Synonyms: ornate, overdecorated
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveExcessively nervous, excited, tense, angry, anxious, or upset; overemotional; very uneasy.
adjectiveElaborate; baroque; overdone.
antonym(s) of “elaborate”
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivedeeply agitated especially from emotion
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Past participle of overwork; equivalent to over- + wrought.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian претрупан, развълнуван
- претрупан (pretrupan)elaborate; overdone
- развълнуван (razvălnuvan)in a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- възбуден (văzbuden)in a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Czech podrážděný, nervózní
- podrážděnýin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- nervózníin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Dutch overdreven, buitensporig
- overdrevenelaborate; overdone
- buitensporigelaborate; overdone
- geagiteerdin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- nerveusin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Esperanto superfortita
- superfortitain a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Finnish kiihtynyt, hermostunut
- kiihtynytin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- hermostunutin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
German überdreht, aufgeregt
- überdrehtelaborate; overdone
- aufgeregtin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Italian ricercato, elaborato
- ricercatoelaborate; overdone
- elaboratoelaborate; overdone
- sovraeccitatoin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- alteratoin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Portuguese alterado
- alteradoin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Russian перевозбуждённый
- перевозбуждённый (perevozbuždjónnyj)in a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Spanish nerviosisimo, sobrexitado
- nerviosisimoin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- sobrexitadoin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
- rabiosoin a state of excessive nervousness, excitement, or anger
Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
overwrought. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overwrought
“overwrought.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overwrought. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overwrought,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overwrought.
Source: overwrought on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.