overboard
adjective · adverb · verb
Simple meaning
Outside of a boat.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ohverbawrdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈoʊvɚbɔɹd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
nautical
Outside of a boat; in the water.
adverb
Over the edge; especially, off or outside of a boat.
Excessively; too much.
verb
transitive
To throw over the edge of a boat into the water.
transitive
To cover (a ceiling) with plasterboard to create a new surface.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Outside of a boat; in the water.
Used this way, overboard is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Sailing/maritime
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use overboard
- “He went overboard to please his in-laws.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.