overblown

¹

[ oh-ver-blohn ]

adjective

1. overdone or excessive:

   overblown praise.

2. of unusually large size or proportions:

   a majestic, overblown figure.

3. overinflated; turgid; bombastic; pretentious:

   overblown prose.

verb

1. past participle of overblow.

overblown

²

[ oh-ver-blohn ]

adjective

1. (of a flower) past the stage of full bloom; more than full-blown:

   an overblown rose.

overblown

/ ˌəʊvəˈbləʊn /

adjective

1. overdone or excessive
2. bombastic; turgid

   overblown prose

3. (of flowers, such as the rose) past the stage of full bloom

Word History and Origins

Origin of overblown¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; over- + blown ¹

Origin of overblown²

First recorded in 1610–20; over- + blown ²

Example Sentences

The campaign for Measure G countered that the estimate was overblown.

From Los Angeles Times

Rogan made it clear that he thinks fears of a Trump dictatorship are overblown, noting that Trump has already held the office once.

From Salon

"A lot of the stuff that happened around Partygate was not why I resigned - I thought it was overblown," she said.

From BBC

She said the Conservatives "got a lot of things wrong" ahead of their historic election defeat, including on immigration and tax, but refused to give a "post-mortem" of her predecessors and claimed the Partygate scandal was "overblown".

From BBC

Those who claim that it’s simply overblown rhetoric or who point to legal, economic, and social obstacles to implementing these threats must understand that not only are the legal barriers this time around much lower, but the previous time the administration tried to do it, just the threat was enough to incite panic.

From Slate

Related Words

• disproportionate
• inflated
• pretentious
• superfluous