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Glite Dictionary
🔍 To read too much into 💻 To read extra data 📖 To reread carefully
to overread

to overread

4.6
To read something again carefully to find mistakes
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərˈrɛd/
translation icon : releer
  • The teacher asked us to overread the assigned passage to ensure we understood it fully.

Examples

  • Before the test, she decided to overread her notes to catch any details she might have missed.

  • I remember having to go out and buy a second copy of EotW when my first copy started falling apart from overreading and lending to friends.

    Blog text (12)

  • He tends to overread the instructions, making sure he doesn’t overlook any important information.

Synonyms

to reread
vsto overread
46 1.0

To read something again to understand or enjoy it better

emphasizes careful, thorough examination rather than only repeating the reading
to peruse
vsto overread
32 7.0

To read something slowly and carefully to understand it

includes reading the text again rather than only a single reading
to pore over
vsto overread
28 5.5

To study things like books or papers carefully to find information

often involves reading the text again instead of just studying it once
to read from cover to cover
vsto overread
1 3.4

To read every page of a book or magazine from start to finish

can mean reexamining any text carefully, not only complete books

How Thorough

to overread
4.6
to reread
46 1.0
to read
∞ 1.0
to scan
127 2.7

Surface Forms

overread infinitive
overreading present participle
overreads third person singular
overread past
overread past participle

Morphology

overread = read (transparent) = over + read

This sense 'read thoroughly/again' can be derived from the sense of 'over-' as 'completely/again' plus 'read', so learners can plausibly infer it.

Etymology

A helpful way to remember overread for 'read again' is to think of over- like in 'look over' meaning 'again' or 'through' and read, so it means to read something all the way through or one more time. So, to overread an essay is to check it carefully for mistakes.