overreacts
Makes mountains, molehills
Overreacts is the third-person singular form of overreact, meaning to respond to something with more emotion, alarm, or intensity than the situation warrants.
Someone who overreacts treats a minor inconvenience as a catastrophe or a small slight as a grave insult.
She overreacts every time I'm five minutes late.
The word implies that a calmer, more proportionate response would be appropriate.
Excessively reactive to stimuli
- volatileLiable to sudden change
- temperamentalEasily upset, unpredictable
- defensiveProtective or easily threatened
- insecureLacking self-assurance
anxious · neurotic · fragile · thin-skinned · touchy · oversensitive · melodramatic · hysterical
Instinctive and unconsidered
- rashHeedless or skin irritation
- hastyExcessively quick, ill-considered
- snapSudden sharp sound
- unthinkingLacking conscious thought
reckless · impetuous · hair-trigger · hot-headed · trigger-happy · hotheaded · quick-tempered
hypersensitive
Excessively reactive to stimuli
- volatileLiable to sudden change
- temperamentalEasily upset, unpredictable
- defensiveProtective or easily threatened
insecure · anxious · neurotic · fragile · thin-skinned · touchy · oversensitive · melodramatic · hysterical · panicky
knee-jerk
Instinctive and unconsidered
unthinking · reckless · impetuous · hair-trigger · hot-headed · trigger-happy · hotheaded · quick-tempered
dramatize
Depict with heightened emotion
escalate · magnify · overemphasize · catastrophize · amplify · inflate · embellish · hyperbole · overkill · overdraw
meltdown
Catastrophic loss of control
- tantrumUncontrolled display of frustration
- explosionViolent burst of energy
- flare-upSudden recurrence of symptoms
blowout · freakout · conniption · tirade · fit · scene · eruption · hysteria · frenzy · uproar
overreactsunderreacts
Responds with insufficient intensity
downplays · minimizes · ignores · underplays · keeps a cool head
overreact, overreacting, overreacted, overreaction, overreactions, overreactive, overreactor