overclaim
verb
over·claim
ˌō-vər-ˈklām 
overclaimed; overclaiming
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
Maurie Backman… handed back more than £70,000 of taxpayers' money after overclaiming on expenses …—Tim Shipman
Tim Shipman2
: 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
Jesse SingalSometimes the product claims are valid, Martin says, but some sales reps are overclaiming.—Lisa Guenther
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
Office of the (United States) National Taxpayer Advocate
the advertisement's alleged overclaims
Cite this Entry
“Overclaim.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overclaim. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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