Overappraise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To judge or value something as having greater worth than it actually does
2. To estimate the price or importance of an item as higher than its real level
3. To assign an excessively high evaluation to an object or quality, beyond its true merit

Etymology: "Overappraise" is a plain formation: the prefix "over-", meaning excessively or beyond the proper degree, attached to "appraise." That verb comes from Old French "aprisier," meaning to set a price on something, which in turn traces back to Latin "appretiare," to value at a price, built from "ad-" and "pretium," price. Appraise therefore began as a commercial word about putting a monetary value on goods, and its sense of judging worth in general came later. The prefix does the work here. Over- is one of English's most productive prefixes, and it attaches readily to verbs of judgment, so "overappraise" describes a valuation that has gone past what the object deserves. The word is a straightforward compound with no special history of its own, and its meaning follows directly from its parts.

Synonyms: overestimate, overvalue, inflate, exaggerate, magnify

Antonyms: underrate, underestimate, devalue, discount, minimize