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View synonyms for overcompensation

overcompensation

[ oh-ver-kom-puhn-sey-shuhn ]

noun

, Psychoanalysis.
  1. a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.
  2. compensation to an unnecessary or unreasonable degree:

    The pay was overcompensation for the work done.



overcompensation

/ ˌəʊvəˌkɒmpɛnˈseɪʃən /

noun

  1. psychol an attempt to make up for a character trait by overexaggerating its opposite


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Other Words From

  • o·ver·com·pen·sa·to·ry [oh, -ver-k, uh, m-, pen, -s, uh, -tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of overcompensation1

1915–20; over- + compensation; as psychoanalytic term, translation of Überkompensation, coined by Alfred Adler

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Example Sentences

Perhaps it was some misguided means of overcompensation, an unconscious need to exert control over our situation.

You not only have to judge time, but magnitude; overcompensation is ruinous, too.

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overcompensateovercomplex