Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Too much action; unnecessary and exaggerated action: applied specifically to a trained horse (a high stepper) in which the knee-action is too noticeable.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Performance to excess; exaggerated or excessive action.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Excessive action (as of a muscle of the body).
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Yes the action could have been more but you can't overaction the first movie.
Sound Off: Iron Man - What Did You Think? « FirstShowing.net 2008
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On February 12, the prime minister stayed in bed all day, “the disturbance, which has had so many forms, having at last taken the form of an overaction of the bowels.”
Three Empires on the Nile Dominic Green 2007
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On February 12, the prime minister stayed in bed all day, “the disturbance, which has had so many forms, having at last taken the form of an overaction of the bowels.”
Three Empires on the Nile Dominic Green 2007
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On February 12, the prime minister stayed in bed all day, “the disturbance, which has had so many forms, having at last taken the form of an overaction of the bowels.”
Three Empires on the Nile Dominic Green 2007
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And to the extent that we were able to monitor that, we were able to control those individuals and -- in case there was any overaction taken towards committing an act of violence here or taking an action against the president pursuant to the threat.
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The same senses are opened in delirium tremens, and entirely shut up again when the overaction of the cerebral heart, and the prodigious nervous congestions that attend it, are terminated by a decided change in the state of the body.
Green Tea 2003
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Many persons refer the cause to our climate; others to the overaction of the brain and nerves in childhood and youth by our schools, and by the exhaustive excitements of social and fashionable life.
The Youth's Companion Volume LII, Number 11, Thursday, March 13, 1879 Various
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The chief embarrassments which at the moment exhibit themselves have arisen from overaction, and the most difficult task which remains to be accomplished is that of correcting and overcoming its effects.
State of the Union Address (1790-2001) United States. Presidents.
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Extremes meet, and overaction steadfastly returns to the effect of non-action, -- bringing, however, the seven devils of disaster in its company.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 43, May, 1861 Creator Various
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These glands are not independent of one another but interact in a marvelous manner so that under or overaction of any one of them upsets a balance that exists between them, and thus produces a disorder that is quite generalized in its effects.
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