to exaggerate or overemphasize (one's role in a play, an emotion, an effect, etc.): The young actor overplayed Hamlet shamelessly. The director of the movie had overplayed the pathos. · to put too much stress on the value or importance of: A charitable biographer had overplayed the man's piety and benevolence. · to overestimate th... Found on https://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/overplay