overestimate
Americanverb (used with object)
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overestimates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overestimated,
past participle, past
-
overestimating
present participle
-
to estimate at too high a value, amount, rate, or the like.
Don't overestimate the car's trade-in value.
-
to hold in too great esteem or to expect too much from.
Don't overestimate him—he's no smarter than you are.
noun
-
overestimates
plural
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overestimatesimple
-
overestimatessimple
-
have overestimatedperfect
-
has overestimatedperfect
-
am overestimatingprogressive
-
are overestimatingprogressive
-
is overestimatingprogressive
-
have been overestimatingperfect progressive
-
has been overestimatingperfect progressive
Past
-
overestimatedsimple
-
had overestimatedperfect
-
was overestimatingprogressive
-
were overestimatingprogressive
-
had been overestimatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overestimate
Explanation
If you're confident your favorite team will win the championship even though the star player is injured, you may want to reconsider: don't let your team spirit cause you to overestimate, or overvalue, the team's abilities. When you estimate something, you make a calculation or a judgment of its value. So, when you overestimate, you assign too much value to the thing you are judging. If you overestimate how much time you have left to get to school, you could be late. Likewise, if you overestimate how prepared you are for a test, you might end up with a poor grade. This verb is the opposite of underestimate, or “to assign too little value.”
Vocabulary lists containing overestimate
Flush
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East of Eden
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Hollow City
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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:
"If you are contacting a sample with a gloved hand, you're likely imparting these stearates that could overestimate your results."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026
Unfortunately, investors overestimate their chances of picking those winners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
Armour's letter said that education was facing a gap of £250m, and he could not "overestimate the financial challenge we face in seeking to address our funding gap".
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026
“Sometimes there’s an overestimate of voters’ desire to tax other people,” said the Tax Foundation’s Walczak.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 10, 2026
But the curse of knowledge ensures that most writers will overestimate how standard a term has become and how wide the community is that has learned it.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
NBCUniversal executive Mark Marshall publicly criticized Nielsen, saying it overestimates streaming viewership at the expense of traditional media companies’ valuations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
Unfortunately, the price action overestimates near-term profit possibility, Reese explained while cutting the stock to Underperform from Neutral.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
For any shot, everyone overestimates the likelihood of it going in.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2024
The high demand surged global lithium production, but in recent months prices have significantly dipped due to a short-term oversupply in the metal and overestimates in electric vehicle purchases.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
But this hypothesis probably overestimates the thickness of the stars in space.
From Side-Lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular Science by Newcomb, Simon
The EU said AliExpress' "overestimated the effectiveness of its system in detecting and removing illegal products".
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
If the stock falls or trades flat, there will likely be critiques that SpaceX and its advisers overestimated demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
He has admitted he overestimated how well his players would deal with the pressure of the Ashes, yet has to marry that with his determination to remove pressure from the dressing room.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
The practice upended hotels’ planning by prompting them to increase staff and begin World Cup-themed renovations, preparing for crowds that may have been overestimated from the outset.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
“His systems. Alexander’s systems are nothing you should be bothering with. You have no idea what you’re doing. I overestimated your ability to handle this challenge.”
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
That is one reason investors may be overestimating how hawkish Warsh will be on rates.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
Investors may be overestimating the threat posed by BYD’s newly unveiled Xuanji A3 autonomous-driving chip, they note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
"We may be overestimating microplastics, but there should be none," said McNeil, senior author of the study and U-M professor of chemistry, macromolecular science and engineering, and the Program in the Environment.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 29, 2026
At the time, he estimated that federal employment data could be overestimating the number of jobs created by as much as 60,000 positions each month.
From Barron's ● Feb. 2, 2026
My father has a bad habit of overestimating his charm—and also my mother’s patience.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
