overbearing

adjectiveC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,444 of 15,258neutral

Overbearing means domineering in a way that leaves no room for others. An overbearing manner, an overbearing parent, overbearing and loud.

The complaint is about weight rather than cruelty: an overbearing person bears down on a room until nobody else speaks, which is what the word literally says. It is used of manner rather than of decisions. Note that over- plus bear here means pressing down from above.

Definitions of overbearing

1adjectiveoverbearingDomineering in a way that leaves no room for others.C1
“Her overbearing mother-in-law criticised everything she cooked.”
synonyms: domineering, imperious

overbearing is a quality of domineering.

Where it comes from

From overbear + -ing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

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overbearing in the wild

"One Child" received a mixed to negative response from critics, many of whom disapproved of the overbearing sentiment.
One Child (Mariah Carey song)
Jackson was arrogant and overbearing, and his instructions were as harsh as his disposition.[77] Soon the Administration was forced to refuse further conference with him.
The Life of John Marshall, Volume 4: The building of the nation, 1815-1835· Albert J. Beveridge

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

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