overestimation

noun

over·​es·​ti·​ma·​tion ˌō-vər-ˌe-stə-ˈmā-shən 

plural overestimations

: the act or an instance of estimating someone or something too highly

The overestimation of the value of an advance in medicine can lead to more trouble than anyone can foresee …

—Lewis Thomas

… their wild overestimation of the reader's attention span …

—Lev Grossman

… potential problems of underestimation or overestimation of disease rates …

—Tonny J. Oyana et al.

Examples of overestimation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Most tech companies have been reluctant to disclose much proprietary information at the most granular, energy-per-query level, which can lead to gross overestimations when multiplied across billions of queries. —Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 21 Aug. 2025

Even if that number is a vast overestimation, and the death toll from all nuclear accidents were a vast underestimation, splitting atoms in nuclear power stations is still one of the safest things that humanity does. —Big Think, 14 Aug. 2025

This was later updated to reflect a 598,000 overestimation in previous data. —Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Aug. 2025

The possible overestimation could be due to a change in the direction of the tsunami’s energy. —Andrea Klick, Oc Register, 30 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1808, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overestimation

• acclimatisation
• acclimatization
• acidification
• actualization
• annualization
• autocorrelation
• autoregulation
• beatification
• beneficiation
• biodegradation
• biotransformation
• bureaucratization