overstate

From over- +‎ state.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊ.vəˈsteɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌoʊ.vɚˈsteɪt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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overstate (third-person singular simple present overstates, present participle overstating, simple past and past participle overstated)

1. (transitive) To state or claim too much.

   Synonyms: overapproximate, overreckon; see also Thesaurus:overestimate

   Antonyms: underestimate, understate; see also Thesaurus:underestimate

2. (transitive) To exaggerate; to state or claim to a greater degree than reality.

   Synonyms: exaggerate, hyperbolize, overdo; see also Thesaurus:exaggerate

   Antonyms: deprecate, underdo, understate

   I think it is overstating matters to say that an hour online is spending all night on the computer.

   He was suggested not to overstate at the interview.

   • 1963 July, “News and Comment: Dr. Beeching's overstatement”, in Modern Railways, page 3:

     In a closely reasoned article in The Guardian, Mr. D. L. Munby, Oxford University's Reader in the Economics and Organisation of Transport, has taken Dr. Beeching to task for overstating his case for withdrawing stopping train services as money-losers.

   • 2021 January 19, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette, “Pompeo attacks multiculturalism, saying it is ‘not who America is’”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Career diplomat Conrad Tribble said on Twitter that multiculturalism “is one of our greatest strengths as a country, and I go to that well often as an American diplomat. It’s hard to overstate the global soft power impact of America’s cultural diversity.”

   • 2021 June 9, Peter Beaumont, “Leading biologist dampens his ‘smoking gun’ Covid lab leak theory”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     A Nobel prize-winning US biologist, who has been widely quoted describing a “smoking gun” to support the thesis that Covid-19 was genetically modified and escaped from a Wuhan lab, has said he overstated the case.

See understate § Usage notes.