overread
/əʊvəˈɹiːd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To interpret something to a greater degree, or in a more positive way, than appropriate; read in too much depth; overinterpret; overanalyze.
verb
To read too much or excessively.
Example Sentences
- "Over the dore thus written she did spye, / Bee bold: she oft and oft it over-red, / Yet could not find what sence it figured […]."
- "To overread Plath's houses is to transform these biographical documents into spatial ones."
- "At the same time, we overread. That is, we find in narratives qualities, motives, moods, ideas, judgments, even events for which there is no direct evidence in the discourse."
- "Did we just overread and overstate our place in the world?"
Etymology
From Middle English overreden, from Old English oferrǣdan (“to read over; read through; consider”), equivalent to over- + read.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: overreden, oferrǣdan
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /əʊvəˈɹiːd/
Usage
Inflected Forms
overreads (present, singular)
overreading (participle, present)
more overread (comparative)
most overread (superlative)