over the top

See also: over-the-top

English

WOTD – 2 June 2009

Alternative forms

• over-the-top

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

over the top (comparative more over the top, superlative most over the top)

1. (idiomatic) Bold; beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; outrageous.

   Synonyms: excessive, exaggerated, OTT, too much

   He has always had an independent style, but don't you think purple spiky hair is a bit over the top?

   • 2015 February 23, “Oscars 2015: 10 things we learned”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     You might have expected a pop star known for shows in which she has someone vomit paint on to the stage to come up with something similarly over the top for a live rendition of The Sound of Music. But Gaga chose to take the traditional route.

   • 2007 August 26, Bruce Jenkins, “The Chronicle Sports Columnist Blog”, in San Francisco Chronicle‎^[2]:

     Myers went over the top in the clubhouse, berating a reporter who questioned Myers' terminology.

2. (communication) Delivered across the Internet to a television or similar device.

Usage notes

• over the top occurs only following a copula as the object of a sentence, as above, whereas
• over-the-top (hyphenated) is attributive, that is, it is used where the adjective occurs before the word it modifies, as

  He gave an over-the-top performance.

Translations

beyond normal, expected, or reasonable limits; excessive; exaggerated

• Czech: přehnaný (cs)
• Dutch: overdreven (nl), te veel van het goede
• Finnish: yliampuva (fi), liika (fi)
• German: übertrieben (de), zuviel des Guten, des Guten zu viel, schon nicht mehr schön, etwas zu weit gehend
• Hungarian: túlzás (hu)
• Macedonian: претеран m (preteran)
• Portuguese: acima do limite (normal), excessivo (pt), exagerado (pt)
• Romanian: exagerat (ro), din cale-afară
• Spanish: subido de tono, desmesurado (es), exagerado (es), dramático (es)
• Swedish: överdådig (sv), överdriven (sv)
• Thai: เว่อร์ (th) (wə̂ə)
• Turkish: aşırı (tr), fazladan, haddinden fazla (tr)

delivered across the Internet to a television or similar device

• Greek: επιφυής (el) (epifyís)

Adverb

over the top (comparative more over the top, superlative most over the top)

1. (not comparable, from World War I) Over the parapet of a trench, especially at the start of a futile attack.

   The men were sent over the top to their certain death.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see over,‎ the,‎ top.

References

• "over the top" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.