overestimate

/'ouvər'estimit/
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Thân thiện
Definition
  1. Verb:

    • To assign an excessively high value, amount, or importance to someone or something.
    • To form an opinion or judgment about a person's abilities, a situation's difficulty, or an object's worth that is higher than the actual reality.
  2. Noun:

    • An estimate, calculation, or appraisal that is too high.
    • The act or result of judging something to be greater than it actually is.
Usage and Examples
  • Verb:

    • Investors should be careful not to overestimate the company's short-term profits.
    • I overestimated how much time I needed and arrived an hour early.
    • He tends to overestimate his own influence in these negotiations.
  • Noun:

    • The project's budget failure was due to a significant overestimate of material costs.
    • Her overestimate of the risks made her overly cautious.
Advanced Usage and Nuances
  • Cognitive Bias: In psychology, an "overestimate" can refer to a systematic error in thinking where people consistently judge their skills, control, or chances of success as higher than they objectively are.

    • A common cognitive bias is to overestimate the probability of rare but dramatic events.
  • In Formal Contexts: Often used in economics, project management, and research to describe a forecasting error.

    • The model's overestimate of demand led to a surplus of inventory.
Variants and Related Words
  • Overestimation (noun): The action or process of overestimating; a synonym for the noun form 'overestimate'.

    • The overestimation of our capabilities was the project's downfall.
  • Overrated (adjective): Describes something that has been rated or valued higher than it deserves. (Note: This is a related concept but not a direct variant of the verb/noun "overestimate").

    • That restaurant is good, but I think it's overrated.
Synonyms
  • Verb: Overvalue, overrate, exaggerate, magnify.
  • Noun: Overvaluation, excessive estimate, miscalculation (upward).
Antonyms
  • Verb: Underestimate, undervalue, underrate.
  • Noun: Underestimate, undervaluation.
Common Collocations and Phrases
  • To overestimate the importance/significance of: To attribute too much importance.

    • It's easy to overestimate the importance of a single meeting.
  • A gross overestimate: An estimate that is far too high.

    • Their cost prediction was a gross overestimate.
  • Danger of overestimating: Used to warn against this error.

    • There is a danger of overestimating the enemy's strength.
Noun
  1. a calculation that results in an estimate that is too high
  2. an appraisal that is too high
Verb
  1. assign too high a value to
    • You are overestimating the value of your old car
  2. make too high an estimate of
    • He overestimated his own powers