overhype

1 of 2

verb

over·​hype ˌō-vər-ˈhīp How to pronounce overhype (audio)
overhyped; overhyping

transitive + intransitive

: to hype (something or someone) to an excessive degree
overhype a new product
… his surname, long synonymous with overhyped schlock …Patrick McGeehan
… the extravagantly overhyped star of the soap opera …Peter Hood
"You think the media is overhyping?"Don Lemon

overhype

2 of 2

noun

: hype that is extravagant to an excessive degree
These visions have a sparkling appeal. But will they come true, or will they harden into garish embarrassments like the predictions for AI and neural networks? Overhype is a real danger to nascent technology.Daniel McNeill and Paul Freiburger

Examples of overhype in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
As of June 22, Kim Cattrall is back—and not just in that deliriously overhyped And Just Like That cameo. Time, 22 June 2023 But such tests, although easily overhyped and used to set precedents and score points, are still important. IEEE Spectrum, 29 Nov. 2021 There isn’t much money in responsibility or safety, but there’s plenty in overhyping the technology, says Hanna, who previously worked on Google’s Ethical AI team and is now head of research at nonprofit Distributed AI Research. WIRED, 16 Feb. 2023 Now, many Chinese products are perfectly good products -- and made by hard-working people in factories there -- but marketers who get hold of these products to sell sometimes overhype them. Dallas News, 5 Jan. 2023 My request to you is to not overhype the team. oregonlive, 11 Oct. 2021 Tesla, in particular, is seen by most experts as abusing the lack of a common language around autonomous vehicles to overhype its products. Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 6 Jan. 2021 Former Bachelor host Chris Harrison is launching his own podcast after his exit from the reality show, and not to overhype it or anything, but it's literally titled The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever … With Chris Harrison. Brendan Morrow, The Week, 19 Dec. 2022
Noun
The point is, forgive the overhype, but there’s a lot of unused hype for a couple of decades. Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 24 Sep. 2022 In part, this is a story of typical Silicon Valley overhype. Simon Willis, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2022 The researchers believe the dismal quality of the vast majority of AI studies is directly related to the recent overhype of AI in medicine. Allison Whitten, Discover Magazine, 6 July 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overhype.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

1979, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1972, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of overhype was in 1972

Dictionary Entries Near overhype

Cite this Entry

“Overhype.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overhype. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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