overcompensate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
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to compensate (a person or thing) excessively
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(intr) psychol to engage in overcompensation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overcompensatesimple
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overcompensatessimple
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have overcompensatedperfect
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has overcompensatedperfect
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am overcompensatingprogressive
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are overcompensatingprogressive
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is overcompensatingprogressive
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have been overcompensatingperfect progressive
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has been overcompensatingperfect progressive
Past
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overcompensatedsimple
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had overcompensatedperfect
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was overcompensatingprogressive
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were overcompensatingprogressive
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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
“For years, I internalized the idea that my brain was ‘wrong’ and that I had to work twice as hard, overcompensate and mask my symptoms to be taken seriously in professional spaces,” Colzie said.
From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2025
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
My feet slip in the sloping gravel—it’s like running in sand, and I overcompensate by pitching forward.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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
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
The songs are written from the point of view of a "woman who feels powerless and overcompensates by exercising extreme control on herself and on her environment," Mitski told The Outline.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2018
Working from a screenplay by Douglas Soesbe that juggles contrivance and insight, Montiel labors to avoid sensationalizing Nolan's story, and in the process he overcompensates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2015
They championed Apple TV Plus early, for instance, even if they overcompensated by practically salivating all over “Ted Lasso.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 12, 2022
Others are saying she overcompensated for her unconvincing aggressiveness last time round - and was too defensive this time.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2022
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
Some analyses of the relief program indicate that farmers are being overcompensated.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 1, 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
I’m not claiming that he’s overcompensating, but, yeah, he is.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
By overcompensating for the sore back, he developed paralysis in the ulnar nerve in his right arm, limiting him to five appearances in his first minor league season.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
But the Finance and Leasing Association, the body that represents the lending industry, has said the FCA is "overcompensating".
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2025
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
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.
