overcompensation

[oh-ver-kom-puh n-sey-shuh n]

noun Psychoanalysis.

a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.

compensation to an unnecessary or unreasonable degree: The pay was overcompensation for the work done.

Origin of overcompensation

1915–20; over- + compensation; as psychoanalytic term, translation of Überkompensation, coined by Alfred Adler

Related formso·ver·com·pen·sa·to·ry

[oh-ver-kuh m-pen-suh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˈoʊ vər kəmˈpɛn səˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for over-compensation

salvo, satisfaction, redress, wages, restitution, recovery, pay, tip, amends, cue, reparation, gravy, return, indemnification, atonement, requital, payment, redemption, quittance, compensation

British Dictionary definitions for over-compensation

overcompensation

noun

psychol an attempt to make up for a character trait by overexaggerating its opposite

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for over-compensation

1917 in the psychological sense, translating German überkompensation, from over- + compensation. A term used by A. Alder to denote exaggerated striving for power in someone who has an inner sense of inferiority.

over-compensation in Medicine

overcompensation

[ō′vər-kŏm′pən-sā′shən]

n.

Excessive compensation, especially the exertion of effort beyond what is needed to compensate for a physical or psychological characteristic or defect.