overgrowth

English

Etymology

over- +‎ growth

Pronunciation

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Noun

overgrowth (countable and uncountable, plural overgrowths)

1. A usually abundant, luxuriant growth over or on something else. A tangle of growth occurring at the top of trees involving vines and branches, common in jungles.
   • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 14, line 241:

     In desolate places where dank moisture breeds / The pipy Hemlock to strange overgrowth

2. An excessive growth or increase in numbers, as in a population of weeds or microbes.
3. Excessive size; usually caused by over-production of growth hormone from the pituitary gland.

Synonyms

• hyperplasia
• hypertrophy
• gigantism

Antonyms

• undergrowth