overact

English edit

Etymology edit

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəɹˈækt/
- Audio (Southern England) (file)

Verb edit

overact (third-person singular simple present overacts, present participle overacting, simple past and past participle overacted)

(acting) To act in an exaggerated manner.
He overacted his part.
(obsolete, transitive) To act upon, or influence, unduly.
- 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC:
  The hope of inheritance overacts them.

Synonyms edit

chew the scenery, ham, ham it up, melodramatize, tear a cat

Derived terms edit

overactor

Translations edit

act in an exaggerated manner

Bulgarian: преигравам (preigravam)
Dutch: overacteren (nl)
Finnish: ylinäytellä
German: übertrieben spielen, übertreiben (de)
Hungarian: eltúloz (hu), túljátszik (hu)
Italian: gigioneggiare (it)
Portuguese: exagerar (pt)
Russian: переигрывать (ru) (pereigryvatʹ)