What's the difference between calm and overwrought?

Calm


Definition:

  • (n.) Freedom from motion, agitation, or disturbance; a cessation or absence of that which causes motion or disturbance, as of winds or waves; tranquility; stillness; quiet; serenity.
  • (n.) To make calm; to render still or quiet, as elements; as, to calm the winds.
  • (n.) To deliver from agitation or excitement; to still or soothe, as the mind or passions.
  • (super.) Not stormy; without motion, as of winds or waves; still; quiet; serene; undisturbed.
  • (super.) Undisturbed by passion or emotion; not agitated or excited; tranquil; quiet in act or speech.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) David Cameron was accused of revealing his ill-suppressed Bullingdon Club instincts when he shouted at the Labour frontbencher Angela Eagle to "calm down, dear" as she berated him for misleading MPs at prime minister's questions.
  • (2) 133 Hatfield Street, +27 21 462 1430, nineflowers.com The Fritz Hotel Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Fritz is a charming, slightly-faded retreat in a quiet residential street – an oasis of calm yet still in the heart of the city, with the bars and restaurants of Kloof Street five minutes’ walk away.
  • (3) Markets reacted calmly on Friday to the downgrade by Moody's of 16 European and US banks, with share prices steady after the reduction in credit ratings, which can push up the cost of borrowing for banks which they could pass on to customers.
  • (4) The girl was calmed down and was taken to hospital.
  • (5) A teaching union has questioned appointment of a trustee of Britain's largest academy chain group as chairman of the schools regulator Ofsted , in what was a surprise announcement meant to calm some of the internal conflicts within the coalition.
  • (6) She stayed calm during the upsetting search that led to Cynthia, who turned out to be flaky, chain-smoking and white (played by Brenda Blethyn).
  • (7) Thokozile Masipa, a 68-year-old former journalist who was only the second black woman to be appointed to the high court, was praised for her calm authority despite her controversial original verdict.
  • (8) He calmly and politely volunteered: “Sir, I have to tell you I do have a firearm on me.” Police hunt and kill black people like Philando Castile.
  • (9) Statistical data should be enriched by qualitative information for decision-making purposes: the calm rationality of one set of people discussing the problems of others should be balanced by the fire of people describing their own experiences.
  • (10) But I say to the honourable gentleman we won’t get Britain building unless we keep our economy going.” Later, Marie called in to radio station LBC radio to say that the new Labour leader needed to “change the way he does things, mix things up each week and really not let the Conservatives know which side it’s coming from – firing on all corners but doing it in a calm and collected way”.
  • (11) I can calmly say that his future will still be at Juventus, where he feels very happy,” he parped.
  • (12) The surreal air of calm surrounding Spain's bond market shows no signs of dissipating.
  • (13) There was nothing accidental about Saffiyah Khan’s easy nonchalance, grinning through the spitting rage of Ian Crossland at the EDL rally in Birmingham city centre at the weekend; Ieshia Evans knew there was more power in calm when she approached the police in Baton Rouge last summer.
  • (14) On the train journey to court I will usually chat to the family to try and help them remain calm before the day ahead.
  • (15) It's a great spot for swimming, with clear, calm waters and a bathing raft.
  • (16) "We hope all relevant parties will do that which benefits peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, hope all sides will respond calmly and avoid exacerbating the situation," ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in the statement.
  • (17) As the party's internal electoral commission counted and recounted the votes during the day, appeals for calm were drowned out by waves of accusation and counter-accusation.
  • (18) The CCTV images released by police are haunting as we watch an individual who appears calm and focused throughout.
  • (19) Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, due to visit Europe this week, appealed for calm amid the rioting.
  • (20) The pressure on Cameron followed a day of rising tensions in Birmingham as community leaders and police appealed for calm following the death of Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30 and Abdul Musavir, 31.

Overwrought


Definition:

  • () of Overwork
  • (p. p. & a.) Wrought upon excessively; overworked; overexcited.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) With the students back, parliament in session and that Killers album slowly being revealed as an overwrought dud, what better time for the greatest minds of their generation to go down the pub and invent a new genre?
  • (2) No one assumes that New Zealand will have an impact in South Africa, yet insouciance is an asset when other sides are so overwrought.
  • (3) Lost in all of the cyber-Armageddon rhetoric is Sony’s own negligent security practices, which is maybe where some of Hollywood’s own overwrought ire should be pointed, rather than blaming journalists for reporting.
  • (4) The season premiere, which aired on Sunday, has everything its returning fans demand: shocks and quips and china sauce-boats, and overwrought manners and hats.
  • (5) One morning we had a text vote for whether or not to play Curtain Call by the Damned, in its full 18 minutes of overwrought gothic glory.
  • (6) Overwrought tell-all memoirs are liable to elicit this response even from those who are not directly affected.
  • (7) One of the older ones actually burst into tears, somewhat overwrought by the whole experience.
  • (8) I, for one, enjoyed the overwrought silliness of series two.
  • (9) He is overwrought and half-asleep, and so Forster risks giving him purple cravings for "big spaces where passion clasped peace, spaces no science can reach, but they existed for ever, full of woods some of them, and arched with majestic sky and a friend".
  • (10) The 34-year-old was as overwrought as any testosterone-maddened youngster but could still have contrived a triumph.
  • (11) It’s as if too many overwrought, mainly male, pub bores have been allowed to take over what is, never forget, a vote for the whole country’s future.
  • (12) Should he ever need alternative employment - and, after all, he might - Brown might consider a career writing poems in overwrought Hallmark greetings cards.
  • (13) The understandable but overwrought attacks on Saif Gaddafi that followed his embrace of his father, clan and regime in Tripoli at the start of the uprising, have made it extremely difficult to pursue a diplomatic track in Libya.
  • (14) All of which she squares up to with Boudiccan fortitude (overwrought grandma years).
  • (15) There is a danger for Franzen, that an author who is not a native user of the internet will be exposed in the way in which he writes about it, and there are a few false notes in Purity; an off use of the term “going viral”, a tin-eared reference to Jeff Bezos, and the overwrought phrase “moused and clicked” to describe the activity of industrious interns at their desks.
  • (16) Whether overwrought or merely unlucky, Liverpool could not capitalise on initial ebullience and fell behind nine minutes from the interval.
  • (17) In a number of later films, he is often seen trying to direct some overwrought superstar.
  • (18) It certainly paved the way for two acclaimed debut albums in the trip-hop vein – Portishead's dense and sometimes overwrought Dummy (1994) and Tricky's darkly mesmeric Maxinquaye from 1995 – as well as the more well-mannered beats of acts such as Morcheeba and Zero 7.
  • (19) For me, it’s just indulging my passion for overwrought choreography, pure performance and cheesy music.
  • (20) I felt odd: overtired, overwrought, unpleasantly like my brain had been removed and my skull stuffed with something like microwaved aluminium foil, dinted, charred and shorting with sparks.