overemphasize
Americanverb (used with object)
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overemphasizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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overemphasized,
past participle, past
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overemphasizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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overemphasizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overemphasized,
past participle, past
-
overemphasizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overemphasizesimple
-
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
-
is overemphasizingprogressive
-
have been overemphasizingperfect progressive
-
has been overemphasizingperfect progressive
Past
-
overemphasizedsimple
-
had overemphasizedperfect
-
was overemphasizingprogressive
-
were overemphasizingprogressive
-
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
Those few, however, have an opportunity to raise their stock through recency bias, a behavioral economics phenomenon defined as a tendency to overemphasize the importance of recent experiences when predicting future events.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 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
It’s a mix of themes and tones, both concrete and ethereal, ghoulish and comedic, but the imbalanced direction here, by LaTanya Richardson Jackson, overemphasizes the horror too literally; it works best on a metaphorical level.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2022
Critics complain that extreme event attribution, as the effort is known, overemphasizes public communications and underestimates uncertainty.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 15, 2022
It overemphasizes formality and presentation, attributes that favor fine dining.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2019
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 Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman) Kellogg
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
There’s always something that got missed that you thought was important or something else that got overemphasized that you didn’t think was very important.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
Walgreens: A top Walgreens executive conceded that pharmacy chain brass may have overemphasized the threat of organized retail theft in San Francisco, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
Morales has sidestepped addressing questions about those issues and whether he has overemphasized his military service during his campaign.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
The importance of a large leaf area free from injury or abnormal condition is so great that it can hardly be overemphasized in connection with nut production.
From Northern Nut Growers Association Incorporated 39th Annual Report at Norris, Tenn. September 13-15 1948 by Northern Nut Growers Association
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
It’s easy to criticize the media for overemphasizing someone’s prison exposure, and easier still to excoriate prosecutors for sweetheart deals.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2023
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
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.
