overplaying your hand

Meaning

1. 1phraseidiom

   Acting as if you have more power or influence than you really do, so that you risk losing what you have.

   Grammar: Used with possessive adjectives: overplaying my/your/his/her/our/their hand. It can also be used as 'overplay your hand'.

   Patterns

   • be overplaying your hand
   • overplay your hand
   • risk overplaying your hand

   The union is overplaying its hand by demanding a 20% raise when the company is losing money.

   He overplayed his hand in the negotiation and ended up with a worse deal.

   If you keep threatening to quit, you may be overplaying your hand.

Common combinations

be overplaying your hand

She is overplaying her hand by asking for a promotion after only one month.

overplay your hand in negotiations

Both sides overplayed their hand in the negotiations and no deal was reached.

risk overplaying your hand

If you push too hard, you risk overplaying your hand.

accuse someone of overplaying their hand

The board accused the CEO of overplaying his hand.

Synonyms and how they differ

overreach

Overreach means trying to achieve more than you can, often with similar results, but it does not always involve a struggle for power.

push your luck

Push your luck means taking more risks after some success; overplaying your hand focuses more on misjudging your strength in a conflict.

go too far

Go too far is a general phrase for behaving in an extreme way, while overplaying your hand specifically means misjudging your power.

Opposites

Word family

overplay verb

To make something seem more important than it is, or to act too strongly.

hand noun

The cards you hold in a game; also used in idioms about power and control.

Commonly confused: overplaying your hand or overplay your cards?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “overplaying your hand”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words