“She's a little overprotective.”

You visited your aunt's house, and she offered you two bottles of water to take back with you on your ride home. Your ride home is only an hour, so you really don't think you needed two bottles. Later you say this when you're telling your sister about it.

She's a little overprotective.

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(someone) is overprotective

An "overprotective" person tries too hard to keep someone safe. Here are some examples of things that an "overprotective" person might do:

  • make their teenage children be home by 9:30 in the evening.
  • buy only organic food for their family.
  • print out copies of all of your travel information for you when you're going on a trip.

You say that a person is "overprotective of (someone)":

She's overprotective of her children.

The people who are "overprotective" of someone are usually their parents. Sometimes a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or older sibling might also be overprotective.

over(adjective)

"Over-" is a common piece to add to the beginning of a word to mean "too much". Some other examples include:

It looks overcooked.

Don't get over-excited.

Am I overdressed, do you think?