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Recent Examples of overact
One could easily be accused of overacting, of doing too much.
—
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
There are few instances of someone overacting more in a movie, unnecessarily adding an undercurrent of murderous, jokey psychotic to an already bizarre creation.
—Mark Kennedy, Boston Herald, 13 Dec. 2024
The college student performers from the Hartt School aren’t encouraged to overact during the party scene anymore — no more drunk jokes or pratfalls.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 11 Dec. 2024
The performances seems inspired by the over-the-top techniques of actors who tried to do too much when sound finally came to films, but were used to overacting.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 25 Sep. 2024
Their turns are driven to cartoonish overacting in great part by the words they’ve been asked to say in English and in angry tones.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024
Meanwhile, Greenblatt’s playfully mischievous demeanor as Tina often reads as overacting.
—Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2024
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
There are few instances of someone overacting more in a movie, unnecessarily adding an undercurrent of murderous, jokey psychotic to an already bizarre creation.
—Mark Kennedy, Boston Herald, 13 Dec. 2024
The college student performers from the Hartt School aren’t encouraged to overact during the party scene anymore — no more drunk jokes or pratfalls.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 11 Dec. 2024
The performances seems inspired by the over-the-top techniques of actors who tried to do too much when sound finally came to films, but were used to overacting.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 25 Sep. 2024
Their turns are driven to cartoonish overacting in great part by the words they’ve been asked to say in English and in angry tones.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024
Meanwhile, Greenblatt’s playfully mischievous demeanor as Tina often reads as overacting.
—Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overact
Verb
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At one point, MacLachlan orchestrates a heart-stopping moment of reckoning for Bill and Tammy, written with a sudden, cathartic directness—a break in their usual language of deferential hesitations—which the actors underplay to perfection.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
22 Aug. 2025
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None of this is to underplay the value of this agreement to Paramount’s streaming business.—
Josef Adalian,
Vulture,
11 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Democrats believe the Trump administration has overplayed its hand with its push for mass deportation.—
Bill Barrow,
Twin Cities,
14 July 2025
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Marlon takes on the guise of a thug named Roach and of course overplays the role.—
Caryn James,
HollywoodReporter,
11 June 2025
Verb
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To bridge the gap, a handful of states have enacted orders expanding and protecting access, issuing blanket prescriptions, executive orders and insurance coverage requirements.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
16 Sep. 2025
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Treasury yields edged lower Monday, extending recent declines, after the Empire State Manufacturing Index came in far below what Wall Street economists had expected and traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve enacting an interest rate cut later this week.—
Pia Singh,Ganesh Rao,
CNBC,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Blanc specifically acts out moments from John Dickson Carr's The Hollow Man to illustrate the impossibility of the crime.—
Esther Zuckerman,
Time,
8 Sep. 2025
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His brittle mum Heather (a heartbreaking and frustrating Shirley Henderson) is barely holding things together as is, and then John starts, well, acting out?—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Advanced adversaries are now using generative AI to construct deepfake biometrics, complete PII profiles with believable digital histories and even replicate consistent interaction patterns that imitate human behavior.—
Rohan Pinto,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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In the image, the president is also backdropped by a city beach covered with fire and smoke, seemingly imitating an active war zone.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Today, Margaret would be playacting her own massacre in active shooter drills at school.—
Petula Dvorak,
Washington Post,
1 May 2023
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Trixie advises Alma to playact highness to flummox E.B.—
Matt Zoller Seitz,
Vulture,
18 Dec. 2021
Verb
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Nearly every garish flight of fancy that decorates the frame is a distraction while the majority of the film does little more than rotely dramatize Kafka’s biography.—
Sam Bodrojan,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 2025
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Based on Ben Macintyre’s best-selling book, the new series of Rogue Heroes comes at a critical stage of World War Two, continuing to dramatize the story of the world’s greatest Special Forces unit.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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There’s a primer that doubles as a moisturizer and a concealer that mimics the tone and texture of your skin.—
Sophia Panych,
Allure,
16 Sep. 2025
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By picking up on how humans write and reflect their anger, the AI uses mathematical and computational pattern matching to then mimic the emotion of anger.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Overact.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overact. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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