overcrowded

adjective

over·​crowd·​ed ˌō-vər-ˈkrau̇-dəd 

: crowded or filled to excess : having too many people or things

overcrowded streets/cities/classrooms

living in overcrowded conditions

… having an overcrowded space can make it hard for buyers to … visualize their own belongings in the space, said Los Angeles-based designer Francesca Grace.

—Jennifer Tzeses

… some 5 million workers commute for up to three hours on trains so overcrowded that there seem to be as many passengers hanging on to the outside of the carriages as there are inside.

—Ismail Merchant

Examples of overcrowded in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Open water is often one of the only places to escape the heat for children living in overcrowded housing and in neighborhoods with few green spaces, few public pools and less access to swimming lessons. — Kara Fox, CNN Money, 28 June 2026

Pruning Cut back overcrowded, broken, or otherwise unhealthy-looking branches in mid-summer when the plants have reached 12 to 18 inches in height. — Nadia Hassani, The Spruce, 24 June 2026

The city also has one of the highest shares of overcrowded homes in the country, at just over 11 percent. — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 23 June 2026

At an overcrowded camp off the main road connecting the capital to Pétionville, 26-year old Emerson Delva looks on with a mix of pride and melancholy. — Jason Motlagh, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of overcrowd

First Known Use

1725, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overcrowded

• clouded
• crowded
• shrouded
• enshrouded
• unclouded
• uncrowded