overrated

adjective

over·​rat·​ed ˌō-vər-ˈrā-təd 

: rated or valued too highly

an overrated book/movie/restaurant

The reign of James I is under scrutiny again. For too long this king has been the victim of literary pastiche, deployed as a foil to the fleeing glory of the overrated Elizabeth I.

—J. A. Guy

… Garrick had arranged for a member of the audience (a fellow actor), dressed as a Frenchified fop, to complain—as connoisseurs of French literary taste had complained for generations—that Shakespeare was vulgar, provincial, and overrated.

—Jonathan Bate

Examples of overrated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lang reckoned that O’Hara overrated Rimbaud. —Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025

Comms are 2-0 at home and hope to have WR Terry McLauren (quad) back for a favorable matchup vs. Bears pass D. WAS beat CHI last year on a Jayden Daniels last-second Hail Mary, but revenge is overrated. —Greg Cote october 9, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2025

Who, by the way, is totally overrated. —Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 18 Sep. 2025

The coach, who has been around a few good defenses in his career, didn’t sound ready to rip this one as overrated. —Seth Emerson, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1586, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overrated

• abdicated
• abrogated
• acclimated
• activated
• actuated
• adumbrated
• advocated
• aggravated
• aggregated
• agitated
• allocated
• alternated