overpromising

Meaning

1. 1verbtransitive or intransitivedisapproving

   Saying you will deliver more, or deliver it sooner, than you can really manage.

   Grammar: Can stand alone or take an object: stop overpromising, or overpromising results.

   Patterns

   • overpromise something to someone
   • overpromise and underdeliver

   The agency lost clients by overpromising and then missing every deadline.

   I am wary of overpromising, so I will only commit to Friday.

   Politicians are often criticized for overpromising during campaigns.

Common combinations

overpromising and underdelivering

The startup collapsed after overpromising and underdelivering for two years.

avoid overpromising

Good managers avoid overpromising to their teams.

guilty of overpromising

The contractor was guilty of overpromising on the schedule.

chronic overpromising

Chronic overpromising hurt the sales team's reputation.

Synonyms and how they differ

overselling

Overselling stresses exaggerating how good something is, while overpromising is about commitments you may not keep.

overcommitting

Overcommitting is about taking on too much work, whether or not you said anything to impress.

exaggerating

Exaggerating makes claims bigger than the truth but need not involve any promise.

Opposites

Word family

overpromise verb

to promise more than you can give

promise verb

to say you will do something

underdeliver verb

to provide less than promised

overdeliver verb

to provide more than promised

Commonly confused: overpromising or overpromoting?

Practice

Make it your own

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

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