Overwrought means too tense and excited to think clearly. Overwrought with worry, an overwrought scene, getting overwrought.
Of a person it means worked up past the point of usefulness. Of writing, music or design it means over-elaborate — an overwrought sentence has too much in it, and that is a real criticism. Note that overwrought is the past participle of overwork, so the person and the prose have both been worked too hard, which is the same image exactly.
1adjectiveoverwroughtToo tense and excited to think clearly.
“She was so overwrought after the accident that she couldn't answer the police's questions.”
2adjectiveelaborateOver-elaborate, of writing or design.
“The critic called the novel's style overwrought, with too many long, flowery sentences.”
overwrought is a state of being over-worked.
Overwrought is the past participle of overwork, from over plus wrought, the old participle of work. Both senses are literally over-worked.
Proto-Indo-European
*werǵ- — to work
Proto-Germanic
*wurkijaną — to work
Proto-West Germanic
*wurkijan
Old English
wyrċan
Middle English
worchen — to work
English
wrought
English, today
overwrought
Past participle of overwork; equivalent to over- + wrought. wrought The past participle of Middle English worchen (“to work”), from Old English wyrċan (past tense worhte, past participle ġeworht; cf. also the metathetic variant (ġe)wroht), from Proto-West Germanic wurkijan, from Proto-Germanic wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European werǵ- (“to work”). Doublet of worked. Cognate with wright (as in wheelwright etc.), Dutch gewrocht, archaic past participle of werken (archaic past tense wrocht), Low German wracht, archaic past participle of warken (archaic past tense wrach, archaic past participle wracht).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA