1
as in overemphasizing
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2
as in underplaying
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overplaying
Verb
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Paternalistic tactics, such as overemphasizing IUDs and implants, undermined young people’s reproductive health preferences and goals.—
Riley J. Steiner,
STAT,
20 Apr. 2026 -
Still, overemphasizing national trend lines fails to acknowledge how new converts can change a community.—
Luis Parrales,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Herzog naturally plays up the enigma at hand with epic grandeur, occasionally overdoing it but usually hitting the mark.—
Eric Kohn,
IndieWire,
24 Apr. 2026
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But nighttime pain that woke me every few hours was likely from overdoing, Bugbee’s nurse explained.—
Nicole Sours Larson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Taking away rights, limiting the ability of non-whites to vote and enacting laws that divert government funds into their own pockets.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
6 May 2026
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An interim report from the Royal Commission released in April, which examined the capacity of Australian law enforcement and the security services to respond to antisemitic crimes, recommended that Australia’s leaders prioritize enacting nationally consistent gun laws and a weapons buyback.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 May 2026
Verb
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By exaggerating the patients’ health problems, insurers collect larger payments from government without providing additional healthcare.—
Stephen Moore,
Boston Herald,
30 Apr. 2026
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But in early 2024, a short seller accused it of exaggerating the role of artificial intelligence in its business model, leading to a class action lawsuit and a 30% drop in its share price.—
Perrie M. Weiner,
Fortune,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The company accused Musk of acting out of personal motives.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Apr. 2026
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Garcia says, acting out the usual blush of so many bewildered men.—
Darío Gael Blanco,
Vanity Fair,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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While agreeing that the FPV drones were a new challenge, Zehavi cautioned against overstating their impact.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
30 Apr. 2026
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In 1998, Buffett warned against overstating your impact.—
Jacqueline Munis,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In addition to recentering the story, the new show shies away from violence on screen, so as to avoid sensationalizing Gacy.—
Lex Goldstein,
PEOPLE,
13 Nov. 2025
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Notoriety trailed Woodhull through her life, but, rather than sensationalizing her scandals, Collinsworth highlights Woodhull’s flair for reinvention, and her drive to set the terms by which she would be remembered.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Minab has been transformed into a landscape of collective grief, where the rhythm of daily life now includes frequent visits to the cemetery, where small graves are arranged in neat rows, just steps apart, mimicking the order of a school assembly.—
Zohreh Saberi,
Los Angeles Times,
6 May 2026
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Much of his free time revolved around listening to the radio, sometimes mimicking different announcers.—
Brendan Kuty,
New York Times,
4 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Overplaying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overplaying. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
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