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
That may cause audiences not to really believe in the performances, but in film, because this acting happens in front of the camera, you don’t have to 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
Mr. Kline does not overact; it’s his character who does, and it’s important to recognize the distinction.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2017
He loved to exaggerate, to act and overact the momentary part, to exercise his lungs and muscles, and to speak and laugh with his whole body.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 18 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
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
He is also someone who overthinks, overacts and overshares.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 8, 2015
Regarding the cast, Puig says that Ray Liotta "overacts" in his role as Ryan's stern preacher father and Ashley Judd "dully plays" his mother, while the narration is "heavy-handed" and "clunky."
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2014
He overacts the office of an interpreter," I cite again from Howell, "who doth enslave himself too strictly to words or phrases.
From Divine Comedy, Norton's Translation, Hell by Norton, Charles Eliot
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
Every line is drenched in cliché, every scene is laboriously overacted, and even the strikingly good looks of the actors can't do much to salvage this alpine train wreck.
From The Verge ● Aug. 20, 2014
He overacted the part, but it was convincing enough for the scriv accompanying me.
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
When they’re role-playing, sometimes they’re really good at it and sometimes they’re purposefully overacting.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 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.
