overclaimed; overclaiming

transitive + intransitive

1
: to claim too much of (something, such as an expense)
Not shockingly, the most popular form of deceit is underreporting income, followed by overclaiming deductions. Maurie Backman
… handed back more than £70,000 of taxpayers' money after overclaiming on expenses … Tim Shipman
2
: to make a false or exaggerated claim about (something)
has a tendency to overclaim his accomplishments
… allowed the researchers to, in effect, overclaim the significance of what they had found … Jesse Singal
Sometimes the product claims are valid, Martin says, but some sales reps are overclaiming. Lisa Guenther
overclaim noun
plural overclaims
… the process leads to millions of cases where taxpayers inadvertently make overclaims that the IRS does not identify until months later … Office of the (United States) National Taxpayer Advocate
the advertisement's alleged overclaims

Word History

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of overclaim was in 1824

Dictionary Entries Near overclaim

Cite this Entry

“Overclaim.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overclaim. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.

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