overcharge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to charge (a purchaser) too high a price.
When the manager realized we'd been overcharged, she gave us a credit for the difference.
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to fill too full; overload.
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to exaggerate.
to overcharge the importance of ancestry.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a charge in excess of a stated or just price.
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an act of overcharging.
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an excessive load.
verb
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to charge too much
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(tr) to fill or load beyond capacity
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literary another word for exaggerate
noun
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an excessive price or charge
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an excessive load
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overchargesimple
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overchargessimple
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have overchargedperfect
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has overchargedperfect
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am overchargingprogressive
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are overchargingprogressive
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is overchargingprogressive
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have been overchargingperfect progressive
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has been overchargingperfect progressive
Past
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overchargedsimple
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had overchargedperfect
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was overchargingprogressive
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were overchargingprogressive
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had been overchargingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overcharge
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at over-, charge
Explanation
If a shopkeeper overcharges you, they ask you to pay too much for something. To overcharge isn't very honest, but it's not usually illegal either. Sometimes it's obvious that someone is trying to overcharge you: if the taxi driver announces that you owe her a hundred dollars after driving a route that usually costs about twenty, you can call that a blatant overcharge. In other cases, you may not realize until much later. It's not uncommon for salespeople to overcharge tourists, for example, making them pay too much money because they don't know any better.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These will be spoken of as the "Regular" charge and the "Overcharge."
From The Automobile Storage Battery Its Care And Repair by Witte, Otto A.
Two kinds of charges should be given the battery, the "Regular" charge, and the "Overcharge" or "Equalizing Charge."
From The Automobile Storage Battery Its Care And Repair by Witte, Otto A.
That is, if the gravity reading on the Overcharge rose to 1.210, the Regular Charge should be stopped when the gravity reaches 1.205.
From The Automobile Storage Battery Its Care And Repair by Witte, Otto A.
Overcharge, ō-vėr-ch�rj′, v.t. to load with too great a charge: to charge too great a price.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
Every fourth week give the Overcharge instead of the Regular charge.
From The Automobile Storage Battery Its Care And Repair by Witte, Otto A.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
