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Glite Dictionary
to over-correct

to over-correct

1 6.7
To make too many changes and cause new mistakes
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvər kəˈrɛkt/
translation icon : corregir en exceso
  • When he noticed he was too far to the right, he over-corrected and ended up in the adjacent lane.

Examples

  • The driver over-corrected after hitting a pothole, swerving dangerously to the left.

  • So, I turned the steering wheel to the left as fast as I could and over-corrected, heading straight into the hill on the left side of the road.

    Blog text (33)

  • It swerves back, over-correcting wildly, and drifts for the opposite shoulder.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • She was so anxious about making a mistake that she often over-corrected her essays, changing perfectly good sentences.

Synonyms

to overcompensate
vsto over-correct
22 6.7

Make up for a weakness by doing too much

focuses on excess corrections caused by fear of making mistakes
to overcorrect
vsto over-correct
3 6.8

To make a change that is too strong and causes a new problem

is driven by fear of mistakes and causes repeated unnecessary adjustments

How Corrective

to over-correct
1 6.7
to correct
483 1.0
to adjust
317 2.7
tweak
28 3.9

Surface Forms

over-correct infinitive
over-corrected past
over-corrected past participle
over-correcting present participle
over-corrects third person singular

Morphology

over-correct = correct (transparent) = over + correct

The prefix 'over-' meaning 'excessive' combines with 'correct' to yield 'to correct too much', a directly inferable meaning.

Etymology

The word over-correct is made of over- meaning 'too much' and correct meaning 'to make right'. So to over-correct is to try to fix something too much—like turning the steering wheel too far—and that extra fixing can cause a new mistake.