overplay
to exaggerate or overemphasize (one's role in a play, an emotion, an effect, etc.): The young actor overplayed Hamlet shamelessly. The director of the movie had overplayed the pathos.
to put too much stress on the value or importance of: A charitable biographer had overplayed the man's piety and benevolence.
Cards. to overestimate the strength of (the cards in one's hand) with consequent loss.
Golf. to hit (the ball) past the putting green.
Archaic. outplay.
to exaggerate one's part, an effect, etc.; overact: Without a firm director she invariably overplays.
Origin of overplay
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use overplay in a sentence
But it could be making a huge mistake if it overplays its hand.
I actually think this article kind of wildly overplays the Iraq warning/comparisons for that reason.
Memories of a Marriage is powerfully constructed, but Begley overplays his hand.
But Palin, like McGovern, represents an avid, countercultural minority that overestimates its own appeal and overplays its hand.
Here's where I overplays my hand, an' lets her get onto the genuyne tones of my voice.
Yellowstone Nights | Herbert Quick
It overplays the cultural, which is consequently made to represent the entire experience.
The Civilization of Illiteracy | Mihai Nadin
British Dictionary definitions for overplay
/ (ˌəʊvəˈpleɪ) /
(tr) to exaggerate the importance of
another word for overact
overplay one's hand to overestimate the worth or strength of one's position
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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