What does overgrowing mean?
Overgrowing means growing excessively, usually so that one thing spreads across or covers another. Its most familiar use is botanical: vines, weeds, ivy, or other plants can overgrow a wall, path, fence, or garden until the underlying surface is hidden. The word can also be used more broadly for growth that outpaces available space, resources, or capacity, as when a business's costs are overgrowing its income. As the present participle of 'overgrow,' it commonly appears with an object: 'The hedge is overgrowing the pavement.' Its past participle, 'overgrown,' is especially useful for describing an area filled or covered with excessive vegetation. The term carries a mild implication of lack of control, whether the growth is beautiful, obstructive, or simply excessive.
verbTo grow excessively over or cover something, or to become too large for a space or resource. In its most common use, it describes vegetation covering another plant, ground, or structure.
- To grow excessively over or cover something, especially vegetation.
- To become larger than the available space, capacity, or limits.
"Ivy began overgrowing the old garden wall, eventually hiding the brickwork almost completely."
"Ferns are overgrowing the narrow path and making it difficult to walk through."
"The startup's rapid expansion led to its costs overgrowing its available resources."
A plant can overgrow a garden so thoroughly that the garden becomes almost impossible to enter—and the word describes both the plant's growth and the resulting loss of visibility.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does overgrowing come from?
The word is formed from the prefix 'over-' and the verb 'grow,' both of which have Old English origins: 'over-' is related to 'above' and 'over,' while 'grow' developed from Old English 'grōwan.' The compound 'overgrow' therefore literally conveys growth beyond an expected boundary or onto something else. Its present-participle form 'overgrowing' follows the ordinary English pattern of adding '-ing' to the verb.
Related word forms
How overgrowing is actually used
The word is most often used with plants or vegetation, but it can also describe anything that expands beyond a practical limit. The past participle 'overgrown' is especially common in descriptive phrases such as 'overgrown with weeds.'