overwork — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To make (someone or something) work too hard.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   to overwork a horse

   More examples (3)

   For some years locomotives and coaches have been overworked and undermaintained to a degree without precedent in British railway history, and the leeway in maintenance now to be made up is very great.

   The cracking sound, he explained, as far as I, a non-plumber, could understand, was the sound of the overworked, undermaintained and weirdly installed heating unit’s core rupturing and spilling water into the basement.

   If you live in Washington D.C., Houston or Atlanta, it might be time to take a vacation. Those three cities, followed by Seattle and Chicago, are the most overworked cities in the United States, according to a study released by the mobile technology company Kisi this past week.

   It turns out that overworking your brain with either physical or mental exercise may lower your ability to delay self-gratification.

   More examples (1)

   One of China’s most prominent e-commerce companies is facing intense public backlash over allegations that it overworks its employees.

2. To work too hard.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

3. To fill too full of work; to crowd with labour.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   My days with toil are overwrought.

4. To decorate all over.

   Usage

   • Transitive

Noun

1. A superstructure.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

2. Excessive work.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Various disordered conditions consequent upon overwork, which are characteristic of modern civilisation.

   More examples (1)

   He says that more men are killed by overwork than the importance of this world justifies. He maintains that overwork slew Pansay who died under his hands about three years ago.

   […] it had obtained from its constituents rather antiquated and inefficient equipment, which scarcely stood up to overwork; […].

   More examples (3)

   When it comes to overwork, denial looms large.

   The Japanese term for sudden death from overwork.

   In July, the government legislated to reduce the maximum working hours from a staggering 68 per week to 40, with 12 hours of paid overtime, in what President Moon Jae-in said would be an “important opportunity to move away from a society of overwork and move toward a society of spending time with families.”

Noun

1. the act of working too much or too long

   Synonyms

   overworking

   Broader terms

   laborlabourtoil

   Examples

   he became ill from overwork

Verb

1. use too much

   Broader terms

   workwork onprocess

   Examples

   This play has been overworked

2. work excessively hard

   Synonyms

   exploit

   Broader terms

   workput to work

   Examples

   he is exploiting the students