Overmodernize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To update or reform something with modern features or methods beyond what is necessary or appropriate
2. To apply new technologies or ideas in a way that surpasses reasonable limits of modern improvement
3. To excessively adapt or improve something using contemporary standards or innovations

Etymology: "Overmodernize" is a plain formation: the prefix "over-", meaning "too much" or "excessively," attached to "modernize," which itself comes from "modern." The prefix is native to English and productive, and it has been attached to many verbs, so the new word reads exactly as its parts suggest: to modernize beyond what is useful or fitting. The base word "modernize" traces back through "modern," which entered English from French "moderne" and ultimately from Late Latin "modernus," a derivative of "modo," meaning "just now." That is the core sense of the family: "modern" originally meant something close to "of the present time." Adding "-ize" turned the adjective into a verb meaning to make something up to date, and "over-" then marks the point where updating has gone too far.

Synonyms: overupdate, excessively modernize

Antonyms: undermodernize, underupdate