Word.ws English Dictionary

overplaying

overplaying is the present participle and gerund of overplay.

Meaning of overplay

Verb

overplay (third-person singular simple present overplays, present participle overplaying, simple past and past participle overplayed)

  1. (ambitransitive) To overdo or overact one's effect or role.
    • When Chris overacted his part again, the director warned that anyone overplaying would be barred from the next production.
  2. (transitive) To play (a song or record) too frequently, often to the point of causing weariness and annoyance.
    • A lot of times I don't want to overplay songs that I really like, because I know that then I'll get sick of them and I don't want to get sick of them.2008, Walter Douglas Crigler, iMusic/myMusic, page 75
  3. (ambitransitive, figuratively) To overestimate one's strength in a game or event, which ultimately may end in a defeat.
    • Jack won the last match of blackjack; Theo overplayed.
  4. (transitive) To accidentally hit (one's golf ball) beyond "the green".
    • The first few shots went wonderfully, but Robin overplayed the last and lost.

Phrases with overplaying

Questions about overplaying

What is overplaying the present participle and gerund of?
Overplaying is the present participle and gerund of overplay.

Words near overplaying in the dictionary

  1. overplay
  2. overplay one's hand
  3. overplayed
  4. overplayed one's hand
  5. overplayful
  6. overplaying
  7. overplaying one's hand
  8. overplays
  9. overplays one's hand
  10. overplease
  11. overpleased

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overplaying (page history and authors); overplay (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “overplaying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overplaying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.