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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Overact

Overact \O`ver*act"\, v. i. To act more than is necessary; to go to excess in action.
--B. Jonson.

Overact

Overact \O`ver*act"\, v. t.

  1. To act or perform to excess; to exaggerate in acting; as, he overacted his part.

  2. To act upon, or influence, unduly. [Obs.]

    The hope of inheritance overacts them.
    --Milton.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
overact

1610s, "to go too far in action," from over- + act (v.). Meaning "to play a part with too much emphasis, to chew the scenery" is from 1630s. Related: Overacted; overacting.

Wiktionary
overact

vb. 1 (context performing arts English) To act in an exaggerated manner. 2 (context obsolete transitive English) To act upon, or influence, unduly.

WordNet
overact

v. exaggerate one's acting [syn: ham it up, ham, overplay] [ant: underact]

Usage examples of "overact".

So he overacted wildly, still in pompous, boomy, Shakespearean mode from his audition the day before.

She remembered the many hints she had given her niece concerning her being in love, and imagined the young lady had taken this way to rally her out of her opinion, by an overacted civility: a notion that was greatly corroborated by the excessive gaiety with which the whole was accompanied.

The hero had so overacted his part it had been embarrassing, and Roland acting the master of the house for the first time had been equally so.

Larkin that his gallant friend was a little overacting, and showing perhaps less interest in the discovery than was strictly natural.

Movies started as silent films, so to convey emotions the actors overacted, and someone played a piano along with each reel.