Join free

overshoot

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

overshoot

  • /ˈəʊ.və.ʃuːt/ UK
  • /ˈoʊ.vɚˌʃut/ US
  • /ˌəʊ.vəˈʃuːt/ UK
  • /ˌoʊ.vɚˈʃut/ US

Rhymes with -uːt

Where it comes from

From Middle English overshoten, oversheten (“to shoot beyond, shoot past, pour down from above”), perhaps continuing Old English ofersċēotan (“to shoot down”), equivalent to over- + shoot.

noun overshoots

  1. countable The amount by which something goes too far. Let's see if we can predict and correct for the overshoot.
  2. countable, uncountable The situation where the population of a species exceeds its environment's carrying capacity. With appropriate choice and action such uncontrolled decline could be avoided; overshoot could instead be resolved by a conscious effort to reduce humanity's demand on the planet.
  3. countable, uncountable The portion of a letter extending above the capline of other letters of the same font, or the relative degree of such extent. The portion resting beyond the capline or baseline is called overshoot.

verb overshoots · overshooting · overshot

  1. To go past something; to go too far. When you drive, you must remember to not overshoot the parking space and end up with two wheels over the line.
  2. To shoot beyond; to shoot too far to hit something. not to overshoot his game
  3. To pass swiftly over; to fly beyond.
  4. figuratively To exceed. to overshoot the truth

    Similar: overrun

  5. reflexive To venture too far; to overreach (oneself).
  6. To record too much photographic footage.

Translations

Every language

noun when the population of a species exceeds its environment's carrying capacity

Españolsobrecarga

verb to shoot beyond; to shoot too far to hit something

Españolpasársele la mano

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"overshoot." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/overshoot. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

overshoot. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/overshoot

Chicago

"overshoot." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/overshoot.

BibTeX
@misc{overshoot_2026,
  title = {overshoot},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/overshoot},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}