überschätzt

Überschätzt is the past participle and adjectives form of the German verb überschätzen, which means to overestimate or overrate. It can function as a finite verb form (in perfect tense: er hat das Risiko überschätzt) and as an adjective or participial adjective (eine überschätzte Fähigkeit). In the passive voice it is commonly used as die Erwartungen wurden überschätzt.

Etymology and morphology: The word combines the prefix über- with schätzen (to estimate or value). The prefix über- signals excess or superiority. Überschätzen is a transitive verb: someone or something is overvalued or misjudged. The past participle is übershätzt, written with the ß, and appears in various syntactic positions, including attributive use (eine überschätzte Einschätzung) and predicative use (Die Erwartungen wurden überschätzt).

Usage and nuance: Überschätzt is frequently used in economics, technology, sports, and everyday language to indicate that the value, potential, or performance of something has been judged too high. It often carries a critical or corrective nuance, contrasting with terms like überbewerten (to overvalue in a broader sense) or hoch einschätzen (to rate highly, but perhaps not to an excessive degree). Correct usage depends on context: predicting outcomes, estimating risks, or evaluating capabilities can all be described as überschätzt when the estimation proves too optimistic.

Related terms: Überbewerten and überschätzen are related but not interchangeable. Unterbewerten means to undervalue, while hoch einschätzen describes a strong but not necessarily excessive valuation. In linguistic use, überschätzt closely aligns with evaluative contexts rather than neutral measurements.

See also: German verb prefixes, estimation and valuation terms, cognitive biases related to overconfidence.