1
as in to overemphasize
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Recent Examples of overplay
And powerful people tend to overplay their hands.
—
Brent Lang, Variety, 30 Dec. 2025
Advertisement China might overplay its hand—that remains a real danger.
—Kerry Brown, Time, 31 Oct. 2025
But Barkley suggested the players should be careful to not overplay their hand.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2025
While there are risks for Democrats to overplay their hand in several blue states, members of the party warn there’s risk for their GOP counterparts in red states just the same.
—Caroline Vakil, The Hill, 7 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for overplay
Brent Lang, Variety, 30 Dec. 2025
Advertisement China might overplay its hand—that remains a real danger.
—Kerry Brown, Time, 31 Oct. 2025
But Barkley suggested the players should be careful to not overplay their hand.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2025
While there are risks for Democrats to overplay their hand in several blue states, members of the party warn there’s risk for their GOP counterparts in red states just the same.
—Caroline Vakil, The Hill, 7 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for overplay
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overplay
Verb
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Questions at debates and forums have tended to overemphasize who’s giving what to whom over other important matters in this election.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Mar. 2026
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If women ski as long as the men do and don’t do it as quickly, that ratio gets out of whack and overemphasizes skiing for the women and not for the men.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Sometimes the functional sibling learns to compensate or cover for the dysfunctional one, to underplay strengths or wear a mask.—
Christine Smallwood,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
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Others say such comments underplay the consequences of the oil blockade.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Fortunately, there’s little danger of overdoing it on vitamin D from food alone.—
Sarah Garone,
Health,
13 Mar. 2026
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There aren't many downsides to eating fruit, although, as with anything, try not to overdo it.—
Sohaib Imtiaz,
Verywell Health,
9 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Adrien Brody can’t stop overacting in a commercial for TurboTax.—
Dee-Ann Durbin,
Fortune,
8 Feb. 2026
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On-screen, the speech’s prestige can overwhelm its existential subject matter, and the passage tends to get overacted.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
15 Dec. 2025
Verb
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One expert, however, testified for prosecutors that the defendant was malingering, or exaggerating his psychiatric issues and was not legally insane at the time.—
City News Service,
Oc Register,
21 Mar. 2026
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The deadpan one-liners exaggerating his strength, speed and toughness to absurd levels, turned Norris into one of the internet’s first global memes.—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In June, the administration enacted a travel ban on 19 countries -- mostly majority-Muslim countries and those with a contentious relationship with the United States, such as Cuba.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
24 Mar. 2026
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If Social Security reform is not enacted before then, policymakers may face a tough choice as to how to implement benefit cuts.—
Lorie Konish,
CNBC,
23 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Another analysis, from a team at the right-leaning Hoover Institute, argues the tax’s backers overstate which billionaires are still California residents and how much of their holdings are actually subject to the tax.—
Ben Paviour,
Sacbee.com,
25 Mar. 2026
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Some at Apple would come to feel that the effect of the PARC demo has been overstated.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Reports from those calls reveal a spectrum of youth behaviors, from hallway bullying to acting out because of problems at home.—
Natalie Eilbert,
jsonline.com,
19 Mar. 2026
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With the games dripping out, one at a time, the entire planet is focused on a single match while it is being played, all the eyes of the world resting on twenty-two elite athletes acting out a sporting telenovela, living making decisions without a script, under conditions of hysterical pressure.—
Jeffrey Pierre,
NPR,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Overplay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overplay. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.
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