belabor

verb

be·la·bor | \ bi-ˈlā-bər

, bē-\

belabored; belaboring; belabors

Definition of belabor

1a : to attack verbally If I had been ill-natured, I should have shown up the little great man, who had once belabored me in his feeble way.— Oliver Wendell Holmes

b : to beat soundly … ancient battles in which the combatants belabored one another with swords, staffs, cudgels, halberds and other heavy-duty weapons until the blood flowed …— James Rogers

2 : to explain or insist on excessively her habit of belaboring the obvious He needlessly belabored the point.

Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about belabor

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Examples of belabor in a Sentence

Her habit of belaboring the obvious makes her a very boring speaker. Please don't belabor the point. He uses his newspaper column to belabor writers for even the most minor grammatical errors.

Recent Examples on the Web

Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin have a lot of fun with those ideas without belaboring them too much. — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, "From Midsommar's director's cut to Don't Let Go, 13 movies to see this Labor Day weekend," 30 Aug. 2019 For Generation Productions, director Kenny Howard doesn’t belabor the dramatic moments that occur in life, and thankfully never allows his actors to turn maudlin or saccharine. — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, "‘Seasons’ gently and movingly showcases the human circle of life | Review," 14 Sep. 2019 Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin have a lot of fun with those ideas without belaboring them too much. — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, "From Midsommar's director's cut to Don't Let Go, 13 movies to see this Labor Day weekend," 30 Aug. 2019 Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin have a lot of fun with those ideas without belaboring them too much. — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, "From Midsommar's director's cut to Don't Let Go, 13 movies to see this Labor Day weekend," 30 Aug. 2019 Instead of belaboring, with tedious exposition, the specifics of a culture and setting that are rare, if not unique in cinema, the director turns in the opposite direction. — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, "Review: ‘The Third Wife’ is a story told with deft, lush strokes," 27 June 2019 Tell her a piece of good news, like a job promotion, and her first impulse is to belabor how bad job security is, how much hard work managing people might be, etc. — Carolyn Hax, Detroit Free Press, "Mom’s negativity impacts mental health," 24 June 2019 Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin have a lot of fun with those ideas without belaboring them too much. — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, "Ready or Not offers splattery black comedy with real socio-political bite," 20 Aug. 2019 Of course, there's no audience as in SNL to point out where the jokes are — if there are jokes there — but too many belabor the easy and obvious. — Irv Letofsky, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Daily Show' First Episode: THR's 1996 Review," 22 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'belabor.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.