over one's head

Hi everyone,

I would like to explain the idiom over one’s head it is an adjective phrase.

It means:

1. (idiomatic) More complex or confusing than one can understand; beyond one’s comprehension.

This is way over my head. Can you explain it more simply?

2. (idiomatic) More than one can handle; too much (especially in over one’s head).

I’m in over my head on this project. Can you help?

3. (idiomatic, sports) Performing at a level greatly superior to one's usual level of performance.

He just shot a spectacularly over his head round of golf and beat all of us.

Connotation: This idiom has negative connotation

Etymology: According to "OED" Oxford English Dictionary, It used at early 1600

over (one's) head: beyond one's comprehension or intellectual capacity
a1626   Bacon Advt. Holy Warre in Certaine Misc. Wks. (1629) 86   It flies too high ouer Mens Heads.

1837   E. Bulwer-Lytton Ernest Maltravers I. iii. i. 247   Talking over the heads of the company.

1886   H. Smart Outsider II. ii. 20   Welstead quickly became cognizant that his wife was over his head.

 

Synonyms:

baffling, bewildering, beyond comprehension, beyond one, complex, complicated, deep, hard to understand, incomprehensible, profound, unfathomable

a1626—1886

 

 

Mada Ashkan.