overcompensate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overcompensates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overcompensated,
past participle, past
-
overcompensating
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
overcompensates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overcompensated,
past participle, past
-
overcompensating
present participle
verb
-
to compensate (a person or thing) excessively
-
(intr) psychol to engage in overcompensation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overcompensatesimple
-
overcompensatessimple
-
have overcompensatedperfect
-
has overcompensatedperfect
-
am overcompensatingprogressive
-
are overcompensatingprogressive
-
is overcompensatingprogressive
-
have been overcompensatingperfect progressive
-
has been overcompensatingperfect progressive
Past
-
overcompensatedsimple
-
had overcompensatedperfect
-
was overcompensatingprogressive
-
were overcompensatingprogressive
-
had been overcompensatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overcompensate
1760–70; over- + compensate; as term in psychology, perhaps back formation from overcompensation
Vocabulary lists containing overcompensate
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:
Those caught short, like India and Australia, might overcompensate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
This sounds obvious, she says, but many people “neglect to pause” and try to overcompensate, which causes them to talk in circles.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026
If anything, their father and mother took that away from them and left them feeling powerless, which explains this need for Kendall to overcompensate and try too hard and overshoot the mark.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2023
To conquer it, Williams said he would overcompensate, sometimes giving artists dozens of visual references or heavily detailed documentation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
Her breeziness was forced, laid on thickly, and Ifemelu felt burdened with guilt, and with a desire to overcompensate.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Sepsis, which can be life-threatening and is difficult to spot, is an emergency reaction to infection where the immune system overcompensates and damages tissues and organs.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
Inflationary pressures from this wage growth may mean a rate-cutting Fed overcompensates with more aggressive balance sheet cuts to sustain credibility.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
“But we think that spread in P/E multiples overcompensates for the quality difference between the two companies.”
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 5, 2026
If the comedy overcompensates at the expense of landing every gag, then good on her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2025
Elena rejects Dovydas at certain times, and Dovydas overcompensates at moments that have them determining if and how they can be together.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2023
"I had money and had to keep myself occupied. I overcompensated but that's the way I dealt with it."
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2025
He got a reprieve when the Eagles were called for an illegal formation, but given a second chance, York overcompensated and pulled a 41-yard attempt left.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
After its sales skyrocketed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peloton overcompensated by spending hundreds of millions to expedite shipping and build a new factory.
From The Verge ● Feb. 19, 2022
DeBoer said all Jones needed was a few small adjustments as he had overcompensated from being too passive late in the season to being overly aggressive in the first four games against the Golden Knights.
From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2019
He was painfully shy, which, as is often the manner of the painfully shy, he overcompensated for by being too loud at the wrong times.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
However, the director of the body that represents the lending industry said before the final ruling that it thought the FCA was "overcompensating".
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
“It kind of rocked so many parts of my life, and kind of cracked things open. And I started to understand where my anxieties come from and why I’m overcompensating in certain areas.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2026
Rudy may have been the scene-stealer in the earliest seasons of the show, but Theo had the most heart, striving to live up to his parents’ high expectations while behaviorally overcompensating for his low grades.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2025
Bowen Yang had just played an overcompensating straight guy opposite Sydney Sweeney on “Saturday Night Live.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
But was Rowan overcompensating now by choosing the most pleasant looking of them?
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
