overrate
Americanverb (used with object)
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overrates,
present (3rd person singular)
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overrated,
past participle, past
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overrating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overratesimple
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overratessimple
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have overratedperfect
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has overratedperfect
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am overratingprogressive
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are overratingprogressive
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is overratingprogressive
-
have been overratingperfect progressive
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has been overratingperfect progressive
Past
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overratedsimple
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had overratedperfect
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was overratingprogressive
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were overratingprogressive
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had been overratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overrate
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:
When a movement loses its ability to shape events, it begins to overrate the importance of symbols.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
Many massively overrate their chances of success, and they often can’t even imagine the many things that may go wrong with the next idea they are toying with.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2024
Still, it's important not to overrate what Carlson's leaving means for Fox News.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2023
“It is hard to overrate the importance of the information received through Blake,” Sergei Ivanov, an official for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, told Russian media in 2007.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 26, 2020
The operation of the principle adopted in the last census is exactly opposite to this; it tends to overrate foreign subjects domiciled in England and to underrate English subjects who were born beyond seas.
From Social Transformations of the Victorian Age A Survey of Court and Country by T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet) Escott
He also says his ideas are more relevant today than ever — especially as Americans develop an anti-science culture that, among other things, drastically overrates the significance of IQ tests.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2024
Georgetown, which has played the nation's toughest schedule according to the RPI, is ranked 12th despite a 21-10 record, which probably overrates them by 10-20 spots.
From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2011
Sometimes it seems that Steiner overrates the importance of language; but to him the word is the very essence of humanity.
From Time Magazine Archive
She is," replied the blind man; "but I think my son overrates her zeal on my account.
From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 2 of 6 by Eugène Sue
Wherein he came nearer to the truth than does Symonds, who overrates, as it seems to me, the value, as regards art and poetry, of simply equalising all human intelligences.
From Memoirs by Charles Godfrey Leland
Mr. Moore advises that inherited wealth is overrated and unlikely to last.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
“Not as stupid and pointless as that other critically overrated piece of junk ‘Get Out,’ but determined to go down trying.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
Liza Prideaux agrees understated decorations are overrated and has embraced "nostalgic, vintage" decor at Christmas for the last two years.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
Everyone is concentrating on social media, and I think it’s overrated.
From Slate ● Nov. 19, 2025
If this invisible guy was Love, Jason was beginning to think Love was overrated.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Lastly, Lee said that the Federal Reserve’s next meeting not being until September will also help support stocks, noting that markets are currently overrating the chances of an interest-rate hike happening next month.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Or am I overrating my own importance as a parent and underrating the resilience kids can have?
From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2020
Be wary of overrating Ballage’s 123-yard rushing performance from Week 15.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 21, 2018
Mike Mamula, the former mid-rate NFL linebacker who wowed the Eagles into making him the No7 overall pick in 1995 after a lights-out combine, remains the cautionary tale of overrating players on measurables alone.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 2016
Then Procter, inflated by his victory at Frenchtown, and overrating his military skill, attacked Fort Meigs, on the Maumee River, was badly repulsed, and hopelessly lost all prestige.
From The Story of Isaac Brock Hero, Defender and Saviour of Upper Canada, 1812 by Walter R. Nursey
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.
