over·es·ti·mate
ˌō-vər-ˈe-stə-ˌmāt 
overestimated; overestimating
: to estimate or value (someone or something) too highly
… the senator had been so responsible about his potential tax liabilities that he had substantially overestimated what he owed the government.—
David Burnham
David Burnham… our habit of overestimating our knowledge and underestimating our ignorance …—David A. Shaywitz
David A. ShaywitzThe emotional power of this reunion can't be overestimated.—Joe Klein
Joe Klein"I mean that I am afraid I overestimated him. I don't think that he is a painter of the first rank."—Henry James
Henry James
over·es·ti·mate
ˌō-vər-ˈe-stə-mət
plural overestimates
: an estimate that is too high
overestimates of the company's future profits
Diamond still attacks the growth projections that the utilities have put forward, arguing that the … figures were overestimates …—Norman Boucher
Norman Boucher
Synonyms
Examples of overestimate in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebMarc Emmer, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
These programs often take place in poor countries that sometimes overestimate their impact and lack accountability mechanisms.
—Rachel Glennerster, Foreign Affairs, 14 Feb. 2024
Sulfur in pollution from ship stacks has also been shown to have a similar reflective effect, although recent research suggests this might have been overestimated in the past.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 21 Mar. 2024
But city and pension system officials say these proposals are financially responsible and don’t rely on the kind of gimmicks that garnered that reputation, such as overestimating pension system investment returns or shrinking estimates of how long city retirees will live.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Jan. 2024
Yes, the polls in GOP primary contests have slightly overestimated Trump’s support.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 2 Mar. 2024
In advocating an uncompromising containment of China, Republicans may be overestimating the United States’ ability to prevail in the event of a confrontation.
—Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
Sean Westwood, director of the Polarization Research Center at Dartmouth University, found in a 2022 study that support for violence was overestimated by a factor of six.
—Marshall Ingwerson, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Feb. 2024
Companies often overestimate how much new board members understand about governance.
—Melanie Hughes, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
Marshall Ingwerson, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Feb. 2024
Kimmel added that Rodgers suffers from the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which states that people with limited competence overestimate their skills or intelligence.
—Mike Freeman, USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2024
In a Bain & Co. survey of 352 global executives, 70% said most M&A deals overestimate synergies—a major reason deals disappoint.
—Mike Keech, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
These overestimates may just be psychological flukes.
—Politifact Staff Writer, Dallas News, 17 July 2023
Efficiencies are often measured by plotting a curve of current against voltage—but for perovskites, the curves differ depending on whether the voltage is increasing or decreasing, an anomaly known as hysteresis that may have led to overestimates of perovskite performance in the past.
—IEEE Spectrum, 7 Jan. 2015
And even those lackluster stats could be an overestimate, because they’re drawn from the National Immunization Surveys, which is done by phone and so reflects the answers of people willing to take federal surveyors’ calls.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2023
The studios said just after the talks broke off that the per-subscriber charge would cost them $800 million annually, a figure SAG-AFTRA said was a vast overestimate.
—Andrew Dalton, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2023
Yet even if each patient generated a book’s worth of text (a gross overestimate), this is far less data than what is currently used to train existing foundation models.
—Jenna Wiens, STAT, 25 Aug. 2023
Verb
Challenges With Short-Term Predictions The rapid pace of innovation and market dynamics can lead to overestimating a technology's immediate impact.
—Marc Emmer, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
These programs often take place in poor countries that sometimes overestimate their impact and lack accountability mechanisms.
—Rachel Glennerster, Foreign Affairs, 14 Feb. 2024
Sulfur in pollution from ship stacks has also been shown to have a similar reflective effect, although recent research suggests this might have been overestimated in the past.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 21 Mar. 2024
But city and pension system officials say these proposals are financially responsible and don’t rely on the kind of gimmicks that garnered that reputation, such as overestimating pension system investment returns or shrinking estimates of how long city retirees will live.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Jan. 2024
Yes, the polls in GOP primary contests have slightly overestimated Trump’s support.
—Matthew Continetti, National Review, 2 Mar. 2024
In advocating an uncompromising containment of China, Republicans may be overestimating the United States’ ability to prevail in the event of a confrontation.
—Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
Sean Westwood, director of the Polarization Research Center at Dartmouth University, found in a 2022 study that support for violence was overestimated by a factor of six.
—Marshall Ingwerson, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Feb. 2024
Companies often overestimate how much new board members understand about governance.
—Melanie Hughes, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
Noun
When people are shown polling data that corrects this overestimate, their own support for anti-democratic measures drops by more than a third.
—Marshall Ingwerson, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Feb. 2024
Kimmel added that Rodgers suffers from the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which states that people with limited competence overestimate their skills or intelligence.
—Mike Freeman, USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2024
In a Bain & Co. survey of 352 global executives, 70% said most M&A deals overestimate synergies—a major reason deals disappoint.
—Mike Keech, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
These overestimates may just be psychological flukes.
—Politifact Staff Writer, Dallas News, 17 July 2023
Efficiencies are often measured by plotting a curve of current against voltage—but for perovskites, the curves differ depending on whether the voltage is increasing or decreasing, an anomaly known as hysteresis that may have led to overestimates of perovskite performance in the past.
—IEEE Spectrum, 7 Jan. 2015
And even those lackluster stats could be an overestimate, because they’re drawn from the National Immunization Surveys, which is done by phone and so reflects the answers of people willing to take federal surveyors’ calls.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2023
The studios said just after the talks broke off that the per-subscriber charge would cost them $800 million annually, a figure SAG-AFTRA said was a vast overestimate.
—Andrew Dalton, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2023
Yet even if each patient generated a book’s worth of text (a gross overestimate), this is far less data than what is currently used to train existing foundation models.
—Jenna Wiens, STAT, 25 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overestimate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near overestimate
Cite this Entry
“Overestimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overestimate. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
overestimate
verb
over·es·ti·mate
ˌō-və-ˈres-tə-ˌmāt
overestimated; overestimating
1
: to estimate as being more than the actual size, quantity, or number
overestimated how many would attend
2
: to place too high a value on : overrate
overestimated his abilities
overestimate
noun
-mət
overestimation
noun
-ˌres-tə-ˈmā-shən
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