excessively or fussily elaborate, ornate, detailed, etc.
transitive verb
2.
to render or present with excessive or fussy detail
He so overelaborates his jokes that they lose their humor
intransitive verb
3.
to add excessive details, as in writing or speaking
He overelaborates to an extent that his novels must be cut radically before beingpublished
Derived forms
overelaborately
adverb
overelaborationoverelaborateness
noun
Word origin
[over- + elaborate]over- is a prefixal use of over, occurring in various senses in compounds (overboard; overcoat; overhang; overlap; overlord; overrun; overthrow), and especially employed, with the sense of “over the limit,” “to excess,” “toomuch,” “too,” to form verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns (overact; overcapitalize; overcrowd; overfull; overmuch; oversupply; overweight), and many others, mostly self-explanatory: a hyphen, which is commonly absent fromold or well-established formations, is sometimes used in new coinages or in any wordswhose component parts it may be desirable to set off distinctly
Examples of 'overelaborate' in a sentence
overelaborate
Like an overelaborate outfit, one outing of the convoluted process is enough.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
If that sounds overelaborate, whimsical and a touch pretentious, well in places it was.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It is the wild pass in the danger zone and the tendency to be overelaborate that holds him back.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Why does he let his team overelaborate in build-ups, allowing opponents to organise the barricades?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Some of the vocal decoration of aria repeat sections sounds overelaborate, but its execution cannot be faulted.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
That urge to overelaborate, the bane of contemporary jazz, is often, he argues, a by-product of youth.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Here, overelaborate extracts, packed with tediously ersatz terms ('zhoori', 'khav', 'malagh'), interrupt the main story.
Times, Sunday Times (2018)
Sometimes we can overelaborate international rugby.