Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An excessive estimate or rate.
  • To rate or estimate too highly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To rate or value too highly; to overestimate.
  • noun rare An excessive rate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To esteem too highly; to give greater praise than due.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make too high an estimate of

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

over- +‎ rate

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Examples

  • Indeed, as Miriam herself concedes, "from the POV of literary history, it's quite possible to 'overrate' a novel's importance (the extent to which it attracted imitators, was genre-changing or - originating, etc.) by pointing to its aesthetic superiority."

    Literary Study 2009

  • Indeed, as Miriam herself concedes, "from the POV of literary history, it's quite possible to 'overrate' a novel's importance (the extent to which it attracted imitators, was genre-changing or - originating, etc.) by pointing to its aesthetic superiority."

    Teaching the Book 2009

  • Indeed, as Miriam herself concedes, "from the POV of literary history, it's quite possible to 'overrate' a novel's importance (the extent to which it attracted imitators, was genre-changing or - originating, etc.) by pointing to its aesthetic superiority."

    September 2009 2009

  • Then again, from the POV of literary history, it's quite possible to "overrate" a novel's importance the extent to which it attacted imitators, was genre-changing or -originating, etc. by pointing to its aesthetic superiority.

    The Little Professor: 2009

  • Then again, from the POV of literary history, it's quite possible to "overrate" a novel's importance the extent to which it attacted imitators, was genre-changing or -originating, etc. by pointing to its aesthetic superiority.

    Iconoclasm 2009

  • One explanation given for the finding was that men tended to "overrate" the severity of cold and flu symptoms.

    WalesOnline - Home 2011

  • One explanation given for the finding was that men tended to "overrate" the severity of cold and flu symptoms.

    Evening Standard - Home 2011

  • As I recall, what Rush said was that the sports media wants to see African American quarterbacks do well, and that that might have caused them to overrate McNabb (which is arguable).

    Matthew Yglesias » Mike Pence’s Ode to Rush Limbaugh 2009

  • I think the source of the problem in the patent system may be linked to a point Friedrich Hayek made long ago about our tendency to overrate the economic importance of theoretical knowledge and vastly underestimate the importance of tacit or practical knowledge.

    Patents and Tacit Knowledge 2009

  • One common mistake that flows from this is to overrate the relevance of polls showing that the public supports various component pieces of the legislation you favor.

    Where policy polls go awry 2011

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