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View synonyms for overcompensation
overcompensation
[ oh-ver-kom-puhn-sey-shuhn ]
noun
, Psychoanalysis.
- a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.
- compensation to an unnecessary or unreasonable degree:
The pay was overcompensation for the work done.
overcompensation
/ ˌəʊvəˌkɒmpɛnˈseɪʃən /
noun
- 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.
From The Daily Beast
You not only have to judge time, but magnitude; overcompensation is ruinous, too.
From Project Gutenberg
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