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Definitions

overstep

[oh-ver-step] / ˌoʊ vərˈstɛp /
VERB
exceed
Synonyms


VERB
infringe
Synonyms
Antonyms
STRONGEST


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.

See Examples For:

But after decades of interacting with others, I trust my instincts not to overstep, to know when to stay in my own lane when the other lane doesn’t seem receptive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

Known to occasionally overstep with her kids by offering hugs or driving a child who missed the bus home, Justine swears she knows as little about the disappearance as everyone else in town.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2025

His overstep appeared to have decided the game in Phoenix's favour but he showed nerves of steel to recover the situation.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2024

“The guidelines are just really a huge overstep I think in my opinion,” Bean told WXYZ-TV.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2024

To do so would be to overstep the bounds, and to display a bourgeois lack of cool.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Society loses sight of human reality “when the economy turns against the person or science oversteps the limits of its competence,” he writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

In the annals of strategic oversteps in America’s post-9/11 forever war, our shoeless airport security lines will go down as a footnote.

From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2025

Watch as England miss three big chances to pick up Australian wickets as Jonny Bairstow misses a stumping and drops a catch and Stuart Broad oversteps after bowling Usman Khawaja.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2023

It really comes to a head in these last episodes, when Nate oversteps with Keeley, which was inappropriate and just wrong in lots of ways.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2021

“Someone tend the babe before he oversteps himself,” the noble said to the crowd.

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

Kavanaugh again referred the matter to his colleagues, and on Friday evening, the high court made clear that it thought the appeals panel had overstepped.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Ali was found to have overstepped and Root was reprieved on 23.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in December and argued that the president had overstepped his authority.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

"The Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump," Judge Christopher Cooper ruled.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

He was put out that I had overstepped myself in denying that I would profit from biochemistry.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

The mission directors then sued Unilever for overstepping its rights.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

I want to teach my young relative good money habits without overstepping the parents’ authority.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026

Oliver and the other doctors are fallible, be it freezing up during a spinal tap or completely overstepping into their patients’ personal lives to facilitate a father-daughter reunion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2024

A: Sometimes, you have to be direct with people who are overstepping.

From Seattle Times ● May 2, 2024

If it is not overstepping myself, I would greatly appreciate your telling me if you find being a nun very satisfactory, in a spiritual way, of course.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger




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