— overcompensatory /oh"veuhr keuhm pen"seuh tawr'ee, -tohr'ee/ , adj.
/oh"veuhr kom'peuhn say"sheuhn/ , n. Psychoanal.
1. a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.
2. compensation to an unnecessary or unreasonable degree: The pay was overcompensation for the work done.
[ 1915-20; OVER- + COMPENSATION; as psychoanalytic term, trans. of Überkompensation, coined by Alfred Adler ]