overpay

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to pay more than the required, reasonable, or fair amount for something or to someone

   We overpay for electricity because the building's contract has not been reviewed in years.

2. 2
   verb

   formal or dated: to compensate more than sufficiently for a cost, effort, or sacrifice

   The value of the harvest would overpay the expense of draining the field.

Formed from over-, 'excessively or beyond,' + pay. The ordinary sense refers to giving too much money. The older construction in which a benefit 'overpays' an expense extends the same idea to something that more than compensates for a cost.

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