belabor

verb

be·​la·​bor bi-ˈlā-bər 

bē-

belabored; belaboring; belabors

transitive verb

1

a

: 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

• emphasize

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

Frey, who likes to belabor his points until the carcass of the horse has actually disintegrated, writes: Somebody wanted Alexander the Great to be remembered as Alexander the Dead and Humiliated. —Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 17 June 2025

The director, Jonathan Entwistle, doesn’t belabor it. —Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 May 2025

Fourth, do athletic departments and institutions at-large have the inherent pace and capability to evaluate a large potential investment? Not to belabor the point, but these are green field transactions. —Jesse Silvertown, Forbes.com, 28 Apr. 2025

The door series, in particular, comes off as belabored because of its rote presentation. —Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 26 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing belabor

• labor/belabor the point

Rhymes for belabor

• nonlabor
• labor
• neighbor
• neighbour
• saber
• sabre
• tabor

Kids Definition

belabor

verb

be·​la·​bor bi-ˈlā-bər 

1

: to keep explaining or insisting on to excess

I don't want to belabor the point

2

: assail, attack