To overshoot means to go past your target or intended stopping point. When an airplane overshoots the runway, it lands but keeps rolling past where it should have stopped. When you're pouring juice and overshoot the top of the glass, you've poured too much and made a mess.

Picture an archer whose arrow flies over the target, or a basketball player whose shot sails over the basket. You can overshoot in space (missing your exit on the highway), in time (sleeping past your alarm), or in quantity (adding too much salt to a recipe).

People also use overshoot when talking about going too far with an idea or action. A student excited about a science project might overshoot by making it so complicated that it becomes impossible to finish. A government might overshoot when making a new rule, creating restrictions that go further than necessary to solve the problem.

The opposite of overshooting is undershooting, which means not going far enough. Getting something exactly right means you haven't overshot or undershot: you've hit your mark.