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• n  (psychiatry) an attempt to overcome a real or imagined defect or unwanted trait by overly exaggerating its opposite
• n  excessive compensation

• It may have been overcompensation, so to speak, on Dodd's part.
• Charles Whitman's shooting people from the clock tower of the Texas campus is diagnosed as a case of sexual overcompensation (on a phallic tower with a phallic rifle).
• In a media conference call, the Minnestota governor says choosing Biden is an "overcompensation" for Obama's inexperience, and suggests the Delaware Senator may serve as Obama's .

Quotes

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• Paul Rudd in MiamiHerald.com
  I know that feeling of insecurity and overcompensation that I try to do with the character but I don't think I'm quite as awkward as some of those moments,said Rudd, adding: "But I can be."
• Steven Jackson in USA Today
  It was back spasms,Jackson said. "It was overcompensation with my groin."
• Cole Hamels in Cherry Hill Courier Post
  Because of the injury, the overcompensation, you tend to pull a little bit and not extend,Hamels said. "I was pretty much short-arming it. I told myself, Just get extended. What are you afraid of?' I was able to extend a few times, but...