Overwrought means excessively emotional, agitated, or elaborate to the point where it becomes too much. When someone is overwrought, they're so worked up about something that their feelings have spiraled out of control. A student who bursts into tears over a small mistake on a homework assignment might be overwrought. Someone who panics dramatically when their soccer team loses a single game is being overwrought.

The word also describes things that are overly complicated or decorated. An overwrought essay uses ten fancy words where two simple ones would work better. An overwrought design has so many curlicues and flourishes that it looks cluttered rather than beautiful.

Picture a piece of metal that a blacksmith keeps hammering and twisting until it's bent out of shape. That's the feeling of overwrought: effort or emotion that goes past the point of being helpful or appropriate.