Overfond

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Excessively showing affection or attachment indicates a disproportionate fondness for someone or something that may be deemed excessive or inappropriate
2. Demonstrating an extreme level of attachment or affection can reflect an unbalanced or overly strong fondness toward an individual or object
3. Having a degree of affection or attachment that goes beyond what is reasonable or typical

Etymology: "Overfond" is a plain English compound: the prefix "over-", meaning excessive or beyond the proper measure, attached to "fond". The prefix traces back through Old English "ofer" and Proto-Germanic "uberi" to a very old Indo-European root meaning "over" or "above", the same ancestry that gives "over" its many senses in everyday English. "Fond" itself has an interesting past. Its root sense was "foolish" or "infatuated", the idea of being carried away by feeling, which is why the older meaning of "fond" was close to "silly". Only later did it soften into the warm, affectionate sense we use today. "Overfond" therefore inherits that original edge: to be overfond is to be fond beyond what is sensible.

Synonyms: overattached, overindulgent, excessive, overzealous, sentimental

Antonyms: dispassionate, indifferent, unconcerned, detached, aloof