overemphasis

noun

over·​em·​pha·​sis ˌō-vər-ˈem(p)-fə-səs 

plural overemphases ˌō-vər-ˈem(p)-fə-ˌsēz 

: an excessive amount or degree of emphasis

F. Scott Fitzgeralds's novels and Eugene O'Neill's plays exposed America's overemphasis on money and success.

—Mary Beth Norton et al.

… an overemphasis on design at the expense of function.

—Walt Mossberg

Examples of overemphasis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While promotions for outright dangerous practices such as eating raw beef are fortunately fewer and further between, there's often still an overemphasis on unproven products or behaviors such as crystals, parasite cleanses and essential oils. —Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 1 Sep. 2024

Early on, however, this type of overemphasis on speed ends up convincing students that math is only for the fastest students. —Shalinee Sharma, TIME, 7 Aug. 2024

This overemphasis on secrecy at the expense of privacy isn’t just inefficient. —Oona A. Hathaway, Foreign Affairs, 7 Dec. 2021

There is fairly wide agreement among scientists in many disciplines that misinterpretation and overemphasis of p values and statistical significance are real problems, although some are milder in their diagnosis of its severity than others. —Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1858, in the meaning defined above