How to Use overboard in a Sentence

overboard

adverb
  • He threw the fish overboard.
  • The boy fell overboard and almost drowned.
  • One of the sailors fell into the water, and someone shouted “Man overboard!”.
  • Smith was the first to go overboard.
    — Emilee Coblentz, Outside, 11 Feb. 2026
  • Crews don’t dump these crabs overboard, but slide them in the sea.
    — Tim Prudente, baltimoresun.com, 31 Dec. 2020
  • That's who Lo saw fall overboard.
    — Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Both had to be tied down to keep them from jumping overboard.
    — Shola Lawal, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Jan. 2021
  • Some threw their babies overboard to spare them what lay ahead.
    — USA Today, 22 Aug. 2019
  • For a new boyfriend or girlfriend and don’t want to go overboard?
    — Alexis Bennett, Vogue, 5 Dec. 2021
  • Telesco said the onus doesn’t fall on him to go overboard, though.
    — Conor Orr, SI.com, 18 Apr. 2018
  • So, don't go overboard and get rid of them all; maybe just use fewer.
    — Contributing Writer, NOLA.com, 26 Mar. 2018
  • But Aidala is careful not to go overboard.
    — Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 8 Sep. 2025
  • One of the people jumped overboard to escape the flames.
    — Todd Karpovich, Baltimore Sun, 16 July 2025
  • Boylan was the first to abandon ship and jump overboard.
    — City News Service, Daily News, 4 Mar. 2026
  • The right approach here is to offer deals that don’t go overboard.
    — Peter Fader, Quartz, 25 Nov. 2019
  • The others jumped overboard to what was most likely their deaths.
    — Justin Phillips, SFChronicle.com, 8 Oct. 2020
  • She was flung overboard and hit by the propellers.
    — CBS News, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Every good party has snacks, but there’s no need to go overboard here.
    — Cori Sears, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Jan. 2026
  • But don't go overboard—the goal is to find a style that looks natural on you.
    — Zanna Roberts Rassi, Marie Claire, 1 June 2015
  • The 34 people who were killed didn't have a chance to jump overboard.
    — Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY, 3 May 2024
  • Victims were not killed by walking the plank, but were shot and tossed overboard.
    — Jamie Kitman, Car and Driver, 1 Apr. 2023
  • One of their cellphones was washed overboard and sank to the bottom on their first day at sea.
    — Jim Ryan, OregonLive.com, 27 Oct. 2017
  • But falling overboard is at the top of that list for resulting in deaths.
    — D'arcy Egan, cleveland, 22 Sep. 2022
  • The heat often comes from the exhaust air from the cabin as it is sent overboard.
    — John Cox, USA TODAY, 15 Aug. 2019
  • But for a mine, all that needs to happen is a vessel pulls up, shoves one overboard, and moves on.
    — Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2026
  • His advice is to not go overboard to the point of standing out among your neighbors.
    — Kimi Robinson, azcentral, 12 June 2020
  • Details of what caused the two anglers to go overboard were not released.
    — Mark Price, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2025
  • Storms tossed debris overboard.
    — Steven Rosenfeld, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2025
  • On the latest episode, fears of a crew member going overboard were top of mind.
    — Rebecca Norris, Country Living, 27 May 2020
  • Gold is the accent hue of the moment, but there is such a thing as going overboard.
    — Marissa Miller, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overboard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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