overestimate

present singular third person overestimates · participle present overestimating · participle past overestimated · past overestimated

1. To judge or calculate too highly.

   I overestimated the number of attendees, and bought far too much food for the party.

   2 more examples

   Nevertheless, the role played by vertical transport (in particular, by biosedimentation) in self-purification of seas and oceans from chlorinated hydrocarbons must not be overestimated.

   2016, S.A. Patin, Pollution and the Biological Resources of the Oceans, →ISBN, page 48

   One must be especially careful when using Google to determine frequency as there is a very real risk of fantastically overestimating the frequency and subsequent importance of a term.

   2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 15

   Synonyms: overapproximate, overstate, overapproximate, overhold, overrate, overreckon, overstate, overthink · Antonyms: underestimate, misunderestimate, sell short, underapproximate, underestimate, underguess, underjudge, underrate

plural overestimates

1. An estimate that is too high.

   The employment projection for the metropolitan area for 1985 was an overestimate by about 12 percent.

   2013, Peter Karl Kresl, Jaime Sobrino, Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Urban Economies

   1 more example

   The department pointed to a study it conducted in 2017 that found that, in some states, overestimates of utility costs were giving some people too many food stamps, while in others, people were getting too few.

   2019 April 10, Lola Fadulu, “Trump Administration Unveils More Cuts to Food Stamp Program”, in The New York Times