Overrate and overate are two words that are often confused. We will examine the difference between the definitions of overrate and overate, where these words came from and some examples of their use in sentences.
Overrate means to assess a higher opinion of something than it deserves. Overrate is a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object. Related words are overrates, overrated, overrating. Overrate is a closed compound word that consists of the word over, meaning highest or above normal, and rate, meaning estimate of value.
Overate is the past tense of overeat, meaning to consume too much, to eat too much food. Overate is an intransitive verb, which is a verb that does not take an object. Related words are overeat and overeating. Overate is a closed compound word that consists of the word over, meaning highest or above normal, and ate, the past tense of eat, meaning to consume too much food. A good way to remember the spellings of overrate and overate is to remember which root words are used to form these compound words.
Examples
Sometimes fantasy baseball owners overrate spring training performances, both jumping on the good and overreacting to the bad. (The Albany Times Union)
But Kidero said this approach to matters was what made Kenneth “overrate” himself in the March 4, 2013 election. (The Star, Kenya)
If you ever smoked, drank alcohol, used recreational drugs, had unsafe sex, overate, or failed to exercise, don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your mistakes, you loser. (The Hartford Courant)
If you overate the previous day — detected by changes in your waistline — the app will even tell you how many steps you should walk to burn off the extra calories. (The Korea Herald)