overemphasize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overemphasizesimple
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overemphasizessimple
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have overemphasizedperfect
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has overemphasizedperfect
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am overemphasizingprogressive
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are overemphasizingprogressive
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is overemphasizingprogressive
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have been overemphasizingperfect progressive
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has been overemphasizingperfect progressive
Past
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overemphasizedsimple
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had overemphasizedperfect
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was overemphasizingprogressive
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were overemphasizingprogressive
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had been overemphasizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overemphasize
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.
See Examples For:
It’s hard to overemphasize the chaos an abrupt revocation of identity documents can inflict on a person’s life.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
“There has been a propensity to overemphasize short term, technical headlines and overlook the broader direction of travel within our industry,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
The researchers are taking care not to overemphasize the results of their findings, saying the changes, while significant, remain slight.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
“I think the authors overemphasize the evolutionary significance of their work,” says Robert Blankenship, an emeritus biochemist at Washington University in St. Louis.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 18, 2023
However, origin stories may leave out key aspects of what actually happened and overemphasize others.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"I think our field overemphasizes testing with metabolic rate. People are actually very insensitive to changes in their own metabolic rate, so we're developing exoskeletons to do something that people can't actually perceive."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2023
Critics complain that extreme event attribution, as the effort is known, overemphasizes public communications and underestimates uncertainty.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 15, 2022
“With the threats around, it just overemphasizes the need for these events worldwide.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 11, 2022
It overemphasizes formality and presentation, attributes that favor fine dining.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2019
But he lacks neither intelligence nor elegance, and if he sometimes goes too fast he never overemphasizes slowness.
From Musical Memories by Rich, Edwin Gile
A risk of a potential cyclical slowdown is overemphasized in markets for the Japanese maker of chip-testing equipment, Ito says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
She pointed to the presidential campaign of Harris, who could be the first woman and first person of Asian descent to serve as president, but who Lien said has strategically not overemphasized that fact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2024
Walgreens: A top Walgreens executive conceded that pharmacy chain brass may have overemphasized the threat of organized retail theft in San Francisco, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
Morales has sidestepped addressing questions about those issues and whether he has overemphasized his military service during his campaign.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
Woman must be liberated from the overemphasized feminine.
From Vocational Guidance for Girls by Dickson, Marguerite Stockman
Certain established giants—Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser among them—earn Fiedler’s disparagement, usually for overemphasizing realism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
It’s easy to criticize the media for overemphasizing someone’s prison exposure, and easier still to excoriate prosecutors for sweetheart deals.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2023
But overemphasizing the benefits of tree planting for carbon capture "can disincentive the protection of intact ecosystems and can lead to negative trade-offs between carbon, biodiversity, and ecosystem function," the authors write.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2023
Twenge has also been accused of overemphasizing the effects of technology at the expense, for example, of economic explanations.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023
She brings her toes and heels together in a single dramatic click, overemphasizing a military way of standing straight.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
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.
