overestimate

Universal Words verb, noun verb [VN] to estimate sth to be larger, better, more important, etc. than it really is: They overestimated his ability when they promoted him. * The importance of these findings cannot be overestimated (= is very great). OPPUNDERESTIMATE overestimation noun [U,C] noun [usuallysing.] an estimate about the size, cost, etc. of sth that is too high: I thought it would cost about ｣300, but luckily that turned out to be an overestimate. OPPUNDERESTIMATE