overplay one's hand
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.06 in modern English
28
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
3
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To bet too much or play too aggressively based on one's excessive optimism in the quality of their cards.
Example Sentences
- "Behind the scenes, Mr. Biden’s aides are searching Mr. Putin’s comments for evidence that he is sensing that he may have overplayed his hand — that his massing of troops has managed to unify the normally fractious 30 nations that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization."
- "Eventually the NUR overplayed its hands with an all-out strike. And when Peter Parker, the then-chairman of BR, who was well regarded among his staff, called their bluff by threatening to close down the entire network, they caved in."