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

Festival jurors acknowledged the challenges facing a young festival in an already overcrowded global film schedule. —Marcus Lim, Variety, 5 Dec. 2025

Where some vintage stores feel overcrowded and overpriced, Bad Madge offers gifts that are thoughtfully displayed and sold in a wide price range. —Abby Hamblin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Dec. 2025

Iraqi farmers are abandoning their plots and migrating to overcrowded, underserviced urban areas. —Nabil Salih, Time, 4 Dec. 2025

But there’s a downside to its popularity with a new study naming the iconic ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center the most overcrowded Christmas attraction in the entire world. —Opheli Garcia Lawler, Travel + Leisure, 1 Dec. 2025

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