overact
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overactsimple
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overactssimple
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have overactedperfect
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has overactedperfect
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am overactingprogressive
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are overactingprogressive
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is overactingprogressive
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have been overactingperfect progressive
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has been overactingperfect progressive
Past
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overactedsimple
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had overactedperfect
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was overactingprogressive
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were overactingprogressive
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had been overactingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overact
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:
“My reaction is not to overact but I didn’t like it,” Del Rio said.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 17, 2022
And so that is why in the theater, the actors tend to be very exaggerated or overact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2021
She remembers turning up at castings as recently as five years ago, recording self-tapes, running lines with her mother, who could be counted on to overact.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 13, 2019
Some of the performers in smaller roles are less artful than the cast’s standouts, and one or two overact.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 19, 2016
My friend was apt to overact his part.
From The Autobiography of a Quack and the Case of George Dedlow by Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir)
She overacts, sings her way through conversations, puts on affected accents, responds to normal requests in a histrionic manner, and generally treats our home like a little Broadway theatre.
From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2021
In support, Toni Collette overacts, deliberately and effectively, while David Thewlis makes each verision of the character he plays interesting.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2020
We did a self tape for “The Beach Bum” with Matthew McConaughey, and my dad overacts, doing an impression of Matthew McConaughey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2020
De Niro never overacts like Pacino, but his downward slide has been no less excruciating to witness.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 23, 2015
Certes, if Mounchensey had more knowledge of the world he would distrust him," said Sir Francis, "because in my opinion Buckingham overacts his part, and shows him too much attention.
From The Star-Chamber, Volume 2 An Historical Romance by Ainsworth, William Harrison
The night I saw it, not all of that singing was precisely on key, and the child nearest me overacted wretchedly.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2022
He overacted, but these are old songs whose sentiments can use some help.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2021
Or perhaps you will come to feel that you’ve overacted and yet still want to involve the school to prevent further issues.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2019
But the transformation is so sudden — and, frankly, badly overacted by Guthrie, who seems to have forgotten that he’s playing a single human being, not two — that the tragedy rings hollow.
From Washington Post ● May 19, 2016
For a second I thought she was going to run into my arms as if we were reunited lovers in some overacted Aturan tragedy.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
"I replied, 'I can't cry'. I told her 'I'm not capable of overacting'."
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
Her overacting meets Ms. Gyllenhaal’s over-filmmaking like the Hindenburg crashing into the Titanic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
Then came the guards yelling, recordings that Burn monitored for overacting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2023
My sister told me I was overacting and should just move my office into my bedroom or closet.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2023
Even Leeds’ Thespians on Demand, the famed English acting troupe known far and wide for their loud voices and shameless overacting, could not hold a candle to this family.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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.
