There are several words you can use for a person who can’t hide or control his/her emotions. For different emotions, there can be different names.
This means overreacting to something emotional can be called a different name from what you call overreacting to annoyance.
A word you can use for someone who overreacts to everything is ‘Dramatic’. This is similar to an actor displaying on stage and taking every action to another level.
This kind of person may or may not be trying to impress. For a person trying to impress, there is also a name for that.
15 Words for Someone Who Overreacts to Everything
When referring to a person who overreacts to everything, there are many adjectives and nouns you can use for such a person. We have compiled 15 words to consider, what they actually mean, and how they are used.
- Uninhibited
- Melodramatic
- Extreme
- Drama king/queen
- Hypocritical
- Juggernaut
- Prima Donna
- Oversensitive
- Explosive
- Poseur
- Touchy
- Egotist
- Bad-tempered
- Attention-seeking
- Grandiose
Uninhibited
An uninhibited person is one who acts as though no one is watching. An uninhibited will appear to overreact to everything. This is because you put yourself in his/her shoes while watching an uninhibited person act.
This makes you imagine how embarrassed you would feel if you were in his/her shoes acting the same way. However, an uninhibited lacks this feeling of embarrassment and will act freely.
The absence of a feeling of fear or embarrassment makes an uninhibited person respond fully to his/her emotions without considering how onlookers perceive him/her.
Example:
- I like uninhibited people. I can never be like that.
Melodramatic
This is another word for being simply dramatic. However, this is focused on sentimental topics. If you know someone who gets so emotional and seems to overact when sentimental, then you can call him or her a melodramatic person.
A melodramatic person is one who is easily brought to tears by emotional matters. A melodramatic person can make very trivial matters seem very serious by responding so emotionally to them.
These are people who get uninhibited when hurt emotionally. They either get brought to tears too quickly or they overreact when they are made to cry by anyone or anything.
You can call a person melodramatic if he/she is the type who overreacts to sensitive situations or can be sensitive to situations that you consider trivial.
Example:
- That’s so melodramatic. It’s not a big deal, really.
Extreme
Here is another word you can use in place of Uninhibited. ‘Extreme’ is a word for things that are intense, at the highest degree, or even excessive.
It doesn’t necessarily refer to a person’s behavior or overreacting but it can be used to qualify anything that is taken beyond a degree that is considered normal.
This is a suitable word for someone who overreacts to anything or everything, irrespective of what sparks their extremities.
An extreme person is one who does things excessively or reacts excessively. You can call a person extreme in showing emotions if he/she is simply melodramatic. You may also call him/her extreme if he/she is totally uninhibited and can be excessive in showing any or every emotion.
An extreme person can be excessive in anger, sadness, happiness, and other emotions.
Example:
- Why do you have to be so extreme? He didn’t even do anything bad.
Drama king/queen
This is the noun for a person that’s overly dramatic. Unlike melodramatic which is central to a person that overreacts when emotional, ‘Dramatic’ is for all kinds of funny overreacting.
If you have ever watched a stage play, you should know how absurd some simple actions seem because the actors appear to be joking with every scene. This is how a drama king or queen may be.
A drama king or drama queen is a person who takes every action to the next level, often with a touch of humor. This is simply a person who is dramatic in certain or all actions.
A drama king or drama queen may only get dramatic when emotional (and is often called Melodramatic). A drama king or drama queen may also get dramatic when expressing other emotions.
Drama king or drama queen is mostly used for generally uninhibited people who get dramatic in virtually every action.
Example:
- Come on, Drama queen. What’s it again?
Hypocritical
While ‘Hypocritical’ doesn’t translate to overreacting, it is often the case when a person overreacts. Overreacting sometimes may be when a person misunderstands a situation as being more serious than it really is.
It may also be a person’s inability to hold back his/her emotions even while others are watching. However, a person will most likely overreact to a situation when being hypocritical. Unfortunately, you can’t automatically conclude that a person’s being hypocritical only because he/she is overreacting.
A hypocritical person is one who is pretentious and tries to deceive another person. In the process of trying to put up a façade of emotions, he/she may take the false reaction too far and appear to be overreacting.
While a person who reacts normally to situations may seem hypocritical when he/she overreacts to one, it may still be quite far-fetched unless you know reasons why the person shouldn’t care so much.
Example:
- Stop being hypocritical. Let’s focus.
Juggernaut
If you are familiar with the X-Men movies, you should know a fictional character called ‘Juggernaut’. If you do, then you must have an idea of what this word means.
Juggernaut is an actual English word and you can refer to anything or anyone with this if you find him/her overtly destructive.
Consider using this word for a person who overreacts when angry. While overreacting may differ, this has to do with anger and destructiveness.
A juggernaut may refer to a person who destroys everything within its path. The word generally refers to anything that cannot be stopped when it’s moving. You can use this for a person who gets destructive when he/she is angry.
The ‘Juggernaut’ word doesn’t refer to overreacting but destructiveness which is often a result of overreacting.
Example:
- Wow! That’s a juggernaut. Why is he pissed?
Prima Donna
While overreacting is often considered a result of excessive sentimentality, it may also be a hypocritical way of requesting the attention of people.
‘Prima Donna’ is the word you can use, mostly for women, if you think she is intentionally overacting or overreacting to get the attention of others. It may also refer to men.
A prima Donna is a woman or man who considers himself or herself more important than others, expecting people to regard him/her highly and demanding attention directly or indirectly.
A prima Donna intentionally overreacts to things just to get the attention of people. However, if he/she isn’t getting the desired attention, then he/she gets angry.
A prima Donna is also called a diva, irrespective of the gender. The name sounds female but is used for both genders because overacting is often attributed to women.
Example:
- What a prima donna! Stop making noise.
Oversensitive
Have you ever heard a person use the word ‘insensitive’? When you say a person is insensitive, it implies that he/she is not assimilating an expected emotion.
You can call a person insensitive if he/she is not considering a grievous situation when doing things or not reacting to it at all. ‘Sensitive’ means the opposite and can also be used as ‘Oversensitive’. This is for people who take certain emotions too seriously.
An oversensitive person is one who is way too conscious of actions or words that spark a particular emotion, even if the actions or words are not intended for what the oversensitive person thinks.
While doing things impulsively, you can get an oversensitive person angry if any of your actions seem against him/her. An oversensitive person may also start to cry over very little things.
You can compare the feelings of an oversensitive person to sensitive skin which will hurt even when touched slightly.
Example:
- Am I being oversensitive? Tell me I’m wrong, please.
Explosive
This is the right word if you are dealing with a person who has anger issues. Overreacting can differ from person to person. Some people overreact when it comes to crying.
Some people also overreact when it comes to showing anger. When you call something explosive, this means it is likely to explode if triggered or mishandled. Also, explosions are difficult to control. This should suggest two major characteristics of an explosive person.
An explosive person is easily triggered by anger and can be difficult to control when angered. This is a person who is difficult to deal with due to how easy it is for him/her to get angry. Also, an explosive person is often destructive when he/she is angry.
An explosive person is like a juggernaut who is easily triggered.
Example:
- He can be explosive but he’s changing for the better.
Poseur
Overreacting can be either natural or intentional. In a case where a person is naturally overreacting, there is a good explanation within that person that justifies the reaction, and, in most cases, it’s often a misunderstanding.
The person thinks it is right to react that way but you, knowing the situation is normal, consider his/her reaction absurd and excessive.
When the person isn’t overreacting naturally and is just putting up an act intentionally, then you can call him/her a Poseur.
A Poseur is a person who behaves in a certain way with the aim of getting the attention of people. This kind of person intentionally overreacts just to have people talking about him/her. A Poseur can be excessively sentimental or just mere actions.
A Poseur is often proud and always enjoys the attention of people so it should be quite easy to tell when a person is being a Poseur.
Example:
- We rare poseurs around here. It’s best to ignore it.
Touchy
Sometimes, overreacting doesn’t have to do with being destructive or loud enough to call the attention of everyone. When a person naturally overreacts, he/she may simply be one who reacts earlier than you expect a person to.
For example, there are situations that you consider tolerable, even while they are insulting. A touchy person can easily get offended or upset by them.
A touchy person is one who is easily made upset. This is the kind of person that can be angered by things regular people play around with.
A touchy person may not be getting any attention at all. However, you get to know from his/her countenance and body language that he/she is offended. In most cases, you’ll find it hard to tell why until he/she points it out.
Example:
- Stop being so touchy. Nothing is wrong with him.
Egotist
This is another word for someone who desires the attention of others. However, this is combined with actual pride. A person who overreacts may be doing so to get attention.
A person trying to get attention may believe he/she is more important than others and should be worshipped by everyone. You can call him/her an Egotist.
An egotistic person is one who believes himself or herself to be more important than others. An egotist wants to be respected by everyone and will therefore get pissed if he/she is not getting the desired attention.
An egotist overacts and overreacts just to get people to look and talk.
Example:
- You’re disturbing us, you egotist. We have more important issues to deal with.
Bad-tempered
If you are looking for another word for an explosive person, here is the simplest one. Another kind of overreacting is having a bad temper. Having a bad temper includes being easily brought to anger or doing extreme things when angry.
A bad-tempered person is one who is angered easily. Tolerable offenses can make a bad-tempered person lose control.
Also, a bad-tempered person may refuse to consider calming down even when in a situation where anger isn’t advisable.
When you say a person has a bad temper, you limit jokes around him/her to avoid such a person from overreacting.
Example:
- When you’re dealing with a bad-tempered chick, stop playing around.
Attention-seeking
This is another direct word for anyone who overreacts intentionally. Overreacting can be natural but a person can decide to do things excessively just to make people talk about it.
An attention-seeking person is one who wants people to pay attention to him/her. He/she may seek admiration, popularity, or to just be the subject.
However, no attention seeker wants to be the subject of humiliation.
Example:
- He can be attention-seeking so I’m not paying any to him now.
Grandiose
This is a word like ‘extreme’ but with a similar meaning to ‘egotistic’. The word can be used to refer to anything that’s tall or very large. However, it is used for a person who considers himself greater than others or than he/she actually is.
A grandiose person is one who is pompous and pretentious. This is the kind of person who believes himself or herself to be better than others and, therefore, seeks attention from everyone.
Overreacting can be fine and is often caused by the ignorance of a person to how sensitive or less sensitive a situation is. You can call such a person ‘Hypersensitive’.
If a person naturally does things beyond what you consider normal or required, he/she may be ‘Uninhibited’. However, if he/she does it intentionally just to get attention, you can call him/her an Egotist or an Attention seeker.
