overpraise
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
Etymology
Origin of overpraise
1350–1400; Middle English overpreisen (v.); see over-, praise
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:
Even last year,, external Chappell, rarely one to overpraise English batting, grouped Crawley with Root and Harry Brook as England's key Ashes batters.
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
The blowback from that tweet was such that Netflix has altered its methods a little, now opting for slightly ironic overpraise over outright sniffiness.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 10, 2019
I stopped listening to the episodes that featured celebrities, which often felt like stops on press junkets, full of overpraise for the guest’s “work.”
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2018
Elsewhere she writes, in a similar vein, about reviewing, words every critic should tattoo on his or her knuckles: “To overpraise is a subtle form of disrespect — and everybody knows it.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2017
The rhyme under this cover in which the impecunious knight did not "overpraise" himself bore the title "How the Good Knight protected Sir Slosson's Credit," and was well calculated to fill me with forebodings.
From Eugene Field, a Study in Heredity and Contradictions — Volume 2 by Thompson, Slason
The theatrical hype machine needs a winner, but let’s not hold the way “Kimberly Akimbo” has been overpraised against it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2023
A portrait of James Russell Lowell, his overpraised poetical antecedent, was hung proudly in his study.
From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2022
I felt terribly overpraised when I made this for my family last week because I felt I had done so little to earn their appreciation.
From The Guardian ● May 13, 2020
The crop of lackluster new musicals — including the overpraised Tony winner, “Hadestown” — provided further evidence of a commercial theater in creative flux.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2019
The Yorks had a pleasantly comfortable home life, and Ronnie, overloved and overpraised by his parents and a worshipful younger sister, was the adored center of it.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Yet there is a risk of overpraising her merits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
I learned my lesson after overpraising one of your stories and having you protest that I always loved everything you did.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 30, 2021
On this week’s episode, Steve Lickteig joins Rebecca and Gabe to answer questions from listeners on toxic masculinity and overpraising preschool teachers.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2018
Recent studies have turned conventional wisdom on its head, concluding that overpraising kids makes them less confident and motivated.
From Time ● Oct. 1, 2013
With Aunty Uju, they hovered and groveled, curtseying deeply as they greeted her, overpraising her handbag and shoes.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
