overcompensation
Americannoun
-
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.
noun
Other Word Forms
- overcompensatory adjective
Etymology
Origin of overcompensation
1915–20; over- + compensation; as psychoanalytic term, translation of Überkompensation, coined by Alfred Adler
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.
Bullying as overcompensation for obvious insecurity and resentment that the world does not view their mediocrity as excellence?
From Salon • Oct. 16, 2024
He wore Kendall’s clothes and practiced self-doubt and the art of overcompensation.
From New York Times • May 31, 2023
Male anxiety and overcompensation have further befouled this witches' brew.
From Salon • Jul. 31, 2022
But what passes for humor in “F9” are self-referential one-liners about invincibility and overcompensation, often delivered by Gibson’s Roman, that fall as flat as a pancaked police car.
From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2021
After what I’ve been through, some overcompensation is to be expected.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
