overcharge

[oh-ver-chahrj, oh-ver-chahrj]

verb (used with object)

overcharged, overcharging 

1. to charge (a purchaser) too high a price.

   When the manager realized we'd been overcharged, she gave us a credit for the difference.

2. to fill too full; overload.

3. to exaggerate.

   to overcharge the importance of ancestry.

verb (used without object)

overcharged, overcharging 

1. to make an excessive charge; charge too much for something.

noun

1. a charge in excess of a stated or just price.

2. an act of overcharging.

3. an excessive load.

overcharge

verb

1. to charge too much

2. (tr) to fill or load beyond capacity

3. literary,  another word for exaggerate

noun

1. an excessive price or charge

2. an excessive load

Other Word Forms

• overcharger noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of overcharge¹

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; over-, charge

Example Sentences

William Smith scammed unsuspecting residents in Surrey and Sussex by overcharging them for roofing jobs, often causing further damage to their properties to bolster his original quote.

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The “profit” they make when patients are overcharged at the pharmacy tends to get competed away in the form of lower premiums.

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C. Meat packers are using “their position as middlemen to overcharge grocery stores and, ultimately, families.”

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The claimants argued that this meant that consumers had been overcharged for apps, subscriptions to apps, and when buying digital content in apps.

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Some customers pay their bill as it comes in each month because they do not want their supplier to estimate their usage in case they are overcharged.

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Related Words

• cheat 
• fleece 
• overtax