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Synonyms

overarching

American  
[oh-ver-ahr-ching] / ˌoʊ vərˈɑr tʃɪŋ /

adjective

  1. forming an arch above.

    great trees with overarching branches.

  2. encompassing or overshadowing everything.

    The community's overarching needs are more jobs and better housing.
overarching British  
/ ˌəʊvərˈɑːtʃɪŋ /

adjective

  1. overall; all-encompassing

    an overarching concept
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of overarching

First recorded in 1710–20; overarch + -ing 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

On Friday, the court cleared Kejriwal and 23 others, saying there was "no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy".

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

“It can be a nice overarching tool that can allow you to kind of simplify your bill-paying,” Schulz said.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 26, 2026

The overarching mood is more sedate than scintillating; the word “bittersweet” comes up a lot.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026

Fueling the selling is an overarching fear that Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or even Alphabet’s Gemini will eventually develop business applications that displace the services provided by many public software companies.

From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026

More important, Makowski says, researchers have little evidence that ancient Peruvians actually believed in a single overarching deity called the Staff God.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.