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overcompensation

American  
[oh-ver-kom-puhn-sey-shuhn] / ˈoʊ vərˌkɒm pənˈseɪ ʃən /

noun

Psychoanalysis.

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

  2. compensation to an unnecessary or unreasonable degree.

    The pay was overcompensation for the work done.
overcompensation British  
/ ˌəʊvəˌkɒmpɛnˈseɪʃən /

noun

  1. 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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of overcompensation

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

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.