overemphasize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overemphasizesimple
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overemphasizessimple
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have overemphasizedperfect
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has overemphasizedperfect
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am overemphasizingprogressive
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are overemphasizingprogressive
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is overemphasizingprogressive
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have been overemphasizingperfect progressive
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has been overemphasizingperfect progressive
Past
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overemphasizedsimple
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had overemphasizedperfect
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was overemphasizingprogressive
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were overemphasizingprogressive
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had been overemphasizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overemphasize
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:
It’s hard to overemphasize the chaos an abrupt revocation of identity documents can inflict on a person’s life.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
“There has been a propensity to overemphasize short term, technical headlines and overlook the broader direction of travel within our industry,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
The researchers are taking care not to overemphasize the results of their findings, saying the changes, while significant, remain slight.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
“I think the authors overemphasize the evolutionary significance of their work,” says Robert Blankenship, an emeritus biochemist at Washington University in St. Louis.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 18, 2023
However, origin stories may leave out key aspects of what actually happened and overemphasize others.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"I think our field overemphasizes testing with metabolic rate. People are actually very insensitive to changes in their own metabolic rate, so we're developing exoskeletons to do something that people can't actually perceive."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2023
Howe, co-author of a rival book on millennials and the author of the forthcoming “The Fourth Turning Is Here,” also thinks Twenge overemphasizes the power of technology, albeit for different reasons.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023
It overemphasizes formality and presentation, attributes that favor fine dining.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2019
Papachristos—who is not involved with the Strategic Subject List himself—cautions that the program overemphasizes both an individual's potential to offend and the use of policing, rather than other services, to fight crime.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 28, 2016
Of course one expects a desert to be hot and dry—that's why it is a desert—but the West Australian desert rather overemphasizes the necessities of the case.
From Herbert Hoover The Man and His Work by Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman)
A risk of a potential cyclical slowdown is overemphasized in markets for the Japanese maker of chip-testing equipment, Ito says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
“I overemphasized being the best teammate I could be,” Jefferies said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
It cannot be overemphasized: an ASI would be an extremely powerful technology.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2022
Toys might help facilitate that, though they shouldn’t be overemphasized.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2022
He opposed strongly what he regarded as many popular fallacies of his time, and in opposing them he overemphasized things that seemed to him to discredit or to disprove them.
From The Unpopular Review, Number 19 July-December 1918 by Various
Certain established giants—Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser among them—earn Fiedler’s disparagement, usually for overemphasizing realism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
But overemphasizing the benefits of tree planting for carbon capture "can disincentive the protection of intact ecosystems and can lead to negative trade-offs between carbon, biodiversity, and ecosystem function," the authors write.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2023
She likes to lean into the drama of her songs, elongating words by overemphasizing certain syllables — a playful antithesis to the articulation-isn’t-important attitude that prevails across so much of today’s pop music.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2022
Some parents hold there’s a balance between overemphasizing wellness and simply cultivating better habits.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2022
She brings her toes and heels together in a single dramatic click, overemphasizing a military way of standing straight.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
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.
