Overkill
noun
Doing much more than is required, unnecessary excess.
Hiring three tutors to teach one student may be an overkill.
Often appears as...
- act of overkill
- considered overkill
noun
Killing of more animals than is necessary.
Overkill can lead to extinction of iconic species.
Often appears as...
- animal overkill
- accused of overkill
noun
The capability to destroy something multiple times over.
The nuclear arsenal was capable of global overkill.
Often appears as...
- nuclear overkill
- potential for overkill
Usage tips
Technical
noun
Doing much more than is required, unnecessary excess.
Hiring three tutors to teach one student may be an overkill.
Often appears as...
- act of overkill
- considered overkill
noun
Killing of more animals than is necessary.
Overkill can lead to extinction of iconic species.
Often appears as...
- animal overkill
- accused of overkill
noun
The capability to destroy something multiple times over.
The nuclear arsenal was capable of global overkill.
Often appears as...
- nuclear overkill
- potential for overkill
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Figurative Use
Often used figuratively to suggest excessive actions or measures in everyday situations.
Bringing a raincoat to the desert is overkill.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Implies criticism; the action is more extreme than necessary and possibly wasteful.
Isn't a five-course meal for a toddler's birthday party overkill?
Pro Tip 3/3Subjective Perception
What’s considered overkill in one context might be normal in another; based on personal judgement.
Some say a phone with six cameras is overkill, others see it as high-tech.
Pro Tip 1/3Figurative Use
Often used figuratively to suggest excessive actions or measures in everyday situations.
Bringing a raincoat to the desert is overkill.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Implies criticism; the action is more extreme than necessary and possibly wasteful.
Isn't a five-course meal for a toddler's birthday party overkill?
Pro Tip 3/3Subjective Perception
What’s considered overkill in one context might be normal in another; based on personal judgement.
Some say a phone with six cameras is overkill, others see it as high-tech.
Pro Tip 1/3Figurative Use
Often used figuratively to suggest excessive actions or measures in everyday situations.
Bringing a raincoat to the desert is overkill.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
Implies criticism; the action is more extreme than necessary and possibly wasteful.
Isn't a five-course meal for a toddler's birthday party overkill?
Pro Tip 3/3Subjective Perception
What’s considered overkill in one context might be normal in another; based on personal judgement.
Some say a phone with six cameras is overkill, others see it as high-tech.
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Video examples
Hendrik Poinar: Bring...
and fast-encroaching dense forests that are migrating north, and also, as the late, great Paul Martin once put it, probably Pleistocene overkill, so the large game hunters that took them down. Fortunately, we find millions of their remains strewn across the permafrost buried deep
Video examples
Every Detail PIPE Doomsday...
all fire rated and isolate every man trap from the center core of the facility this place is designed with incredible strength in the walls the steel all the concrete it just overkill and this is the core of the building
Video examples
Hendrik Poinar: Bring...
and fast-encroaching dense forests that are migrating north, and also, as the late, great Paul Martin once put it, probably Pleistocene overkill, so the large game hunters that took them down. Fortunately, we find millions of their remains strewn across the permafrost buried deep
Video examples
Every Detail PIPE Doomsday...
all fire rated and isolate every man trap from the center core of the facility this place is designed with incredible strength in the walls the steel all the concrete it just overkill and this is the core of the building
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Joe Satriani
American Musician
Anytime you go to see a band with a guitar player, there's always a fear of guitar overkill! That's a funny question. If you went to a Taylor Swift concert or a Jay-Z show, people would think, 'Oh, my God, I hope I don't get guitar overkill.' People come to our show for guitar, and there can never be enough.
Quote examples
Camille Paglia
American Author
Madonna can still produce a catchy pop song, but she hasn't expanded her artistic vocabulary since the 1990s. Her concerts are glitzy extravaganzas of special effects overkill. She leaves little space in them for emotional depth or unscripted rapport with the audience.
Quote examples
Zanny Minton Beddoes
British Journalist
Europe's budget plans are better designed: countries from France to Greece are raising retirement ages; others, from Britain to Germany, have created new organisations and rules to encourage fiscal probity. But Europe risks overkill.
Quote examples
Pavel Nedved
Czechoslovakian Footballer
In no other country is football lived like it is in Italy, almost to the point of overkill. There is too much football on TV and in the papers, there is always talk about football during the week.
Quote examples
Tom Jones
Welsh Musician
I've tried wearing more than one ring on one hand and it doesn't look good. It's overkill, I think. So I think a ring on either hand. Nine times out of ten I'll go for pinky rings, but not always.
Quote examples
Jaco Pastorius
American Musician
Joseph Zawinul does overkill, and his technological overkill sucks, but there's no friction between us; I just say, 'Look,' and that's it. Do you have any idea how much music I learned from him?
Quote examples
Gore Vidal
American Novelist
The Pentagon talks about our power to 'overkill' Russia ten times, twenty times, perhaps forty-eight times. For my tax money, it is sufficient to overkill them once.
Quote examples
Behati Prinsloo
Model
It's overkill when you put too much fragrance on. It's the worst. Not sexy, and it makes me want to puke. I'm nauseous. Know what I mean? Your game's off.
Quote examples
April Winchell
American Actress
Personally, I think tying garbage bags around your head and hands is overkill.
Quote examples
Joe Satriani
American Musician
Anytime you go to see a band with a guitar player, there's always a fear of guitar overkill! That's a funny question. If you went to a Taylor Swift concert or a Jay-Z show, people would think, 'Oh, my God, I hope I don't get guitar overkill.' People come to our show for guitar, and there can never be enough.
Quote examples
Camille Paglia
American Author
Madonna can still produce a catchy pop song, but she hasn't expanded her artistic vocabulary since the 1990s. Her concerts are glitzy extravaganzas of special effects overkill. She leaves little space in them for emotional depth or unscripted rapport with the audience.
Quote examples
Zanny Minton Beddoes
British Journalist
Europe's budget plans are better designed: countries from France to Greece are raising retirement ages; others, from Britain to Germany, have created new organisations and rules to encourage fiscal probity. But Europe risks overkill.
Quote examples
Pavel Nedved
Czechoslovakian Footballer
In no other country is football lived like it is in Italy, almost to the point of overkill. There is too much football on TV and in the papers, there is always talk about football during the week.
Quote examples
Tom Jones
Welsh Musician
I've tried wearing more than one ring on one hand and it doesn't look good. It's overkill, I think. So I think a ring on either hand. Nine times out of ten I'll go for pinky rings, but not always.
Quote examples
Jaco Pastorius
American Musician
Joseph Zawinul does overkill, and his technological overkill sucks, but there's no friction between us; I just say, 'Look,' and that's it. Do you have any idea how much music I learned from him?
Quote examples
Gore Vidal
American Novelist
The Pentagon talks about our power to 'overkill' Russia ten times, twenty times, perhaps forty-eight times. For my tax money, it is sufficient to overkill them once.
Quote examples
Behati Prinsloo
Model
It's overkill when you put too much fragrance on. It's the worst. Not sexy, and it makes me want to puke. I'm nauseous. Know what I mean? Your game's off.
Quote examples
April Winchell
American Actress
Personally, I think tying garbage bags around your head and hands is overkill.
Example 1 of 9
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