overly
- 1To an excessive degree; beyond what is appropriate or necessary.
Critics found the film overly sentimental in its final act.
Managers who are overly cautious can slow a whole project down.
Similartoo, excessively, superfluously
Oppositeinsufficiently
Note
The everyday modern sense, built from over plus the -ly that makes adverbs, and the one some usage critics object to. It has a long record: John Galt writes of an overly young woman in 1821, and Heinlein of a race overly sentimental in 1958. Still, in careful prose too or excessively will never draw comment. It sits before an adjective, as in overly protective or overly cautious.
- 2To a high degree; very.
He didn't seem overly concerned about the deadline.
The crowd wasn't overly large for a Tuesday night.
Similarparticularly, very, especially, terribly, unduly
Note
Understatement is its home. It almost always follows a not, as in not overly enthusiastic or didn't seem overly concerned, and in that frame it means little more than very. The phrase is a mild, polite way of signaling real indifference. Outside a negative, readers tend to hear the "too much" meaning instead, so keep it inside the negative when you mean simply "very".
- 3In a superficial manner; without examining things closely.
Note
The surface meaning sits plainly in over: what is done overly only passes across the top. William Perkins in 1604 compares a hasty reproof to a salve that leaves a wound "ouerly healed vp", fair skin over a foul sore. Today superficially or cursorily does this work. Modern readers hear overly only as the "too much" adverb, so the old meaning cannot be revived without confusion.
- 4In a careless manner; without giving something due attention.
If you expect the Poor should work cheaper, and not perform their Work slighter and more overly, as we call it, and superficially, you expect what is not in the Nature of the Thing.
1728, Daniel Defoe, A Plan of the English CommerceNote
Here the shallowness is a failure of effort rather than of looking. John Preston in 1629 strings it together with remissely and perfunctorily. Daniel Defoe in 1728 warns that underpaid workers will labor "slighter and more overly, as we call it", which suggests a workaday word, and one that could take more. It is close kin to the "superficial" adverb but leans toward neglect.
- 5In a haughty manner; with an air of superiority over others.
Note
The over here is the over of looking down on someone. John Brinsley the younger, writing in 1650 against arrogance and pride, pairs it with superciliously: men "looking overly and superciliously upon others." Look upon is its natural partner. A modern writer who wants this meaning should choose haughtily or loftily, since overly will be read as excess.
- 6Excessive in amount or degree; too great.
Note
Coleridge's notes, published in 1839, show the adjective still alive. They fault "the somewhat overly and certainly most ungracious resentments of Baxter", where overly and ungracious stand side by side before the noun and somewhat softens the first. Modern English has lost that position: overly now modifies only adjectives and verbs, as the everyday "too much" adverb does. Overly resentments would now read as an error.
- 7Superficial and lacking thoroughness; careless, negligent, or inattentive.
Hee prayeth but with an ouerly desire, and not from the deepe of his heart, that will not bend his endeauours withall to obtaine what he desireth:
1627, Robert Sanderson, Ten SermonsThe curteous Citizen bad me to his feast, With hollow words, and ouerly request: Come, will ye dine with me this Holy day? I yeelded, tho he hop’d I would say Nay:
1602, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarium Sixe BookesNote
Underneath this sense is a different word: over plus the -ly that makes adjectives, as in lively, so it stood directly before a noun. Joseph Hall in 1602 sets hollow words beside an "ouerly request", and Robert Sanderson's 1627 sermon speaks of an "ouerly desire". Lord Kames still writes of "an overly view" in 1762. It is the adjective partner of the "superficial" adverb and the "careless" adverb.
- 8Haughty; having or showing a sense of superiority over others.
Those that know no better, may rejoyce and exult in these worldly contentments; but those, who have had but a blink of the beauty of heaven, can look upon them no otherwise, than with an overly contemptuousnesse.
1637, Joseph Hall, The Remedy of ProphanenesseNote
The adjective partner of the "haughty" adverb. Joseph Hall, who also used the "superficial" adjective in his satires, writes in 1637 that those who have glimpsed heaven look on worldly pleasures "with an overly contemptuousnesse." The noun it qualifies already means scorn, so overly contributes the lofty, looking-down quality rather than a new idea.
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Origins
Formed from 'over' combined with the adverb-forming suffix '-ly'.
Formed from 'over' combined with the adjective-forming suffix '-ly'.