overwork

verb

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over·work | \ ˌō-vər-ˈwərk

overworked; overworking; overworks

Definition of overwork

transitive verb

1 : to cause to work too hard, too long, or to exhaustion overworked the horses

2a : to work too much on overwork bread dough

b : to make excessive use of overworked tunes

intransitive verb

: to work too much or too long : overdo

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Examples of overwork in a Sentence

The whole crew seemed exhausted, probably from overworking. The captain routinely overworked the crew. He overworks the melody in the song. If you overwork the dough, the bread will be tough.

Recent Examples on the Web While these were varied, one was especially common: 59 percent of respondents, regardless of their role, reported a tendency to overwork, and not take breaks throughout the day while working from home. — Robert Glazer, Forbes, "I Asked 2,000 People About Their Remote Work Experience. Here’s What They Shared," 19 Apr. 2021 Some people overwork to manage anxiety about being revealed as a fraud. — Cordilia James, WSJ, "Does Covid Have You Feeling Like a Fraud at Work?," 14 Mar. 2021 Korean politicians and the country’s Public Service and Transport Workers union, meanwhile, have linked eight of those deaths to overwork. — Lucinda Shen, Fortune, "Coupang debuts with a bang," 12 Mar. 2021 Don’t overwork it here, chunkier bits of egg add great texture. — Kate Merker, Good Housekeeping, "Egg Salad Sandwich," 4 Mar. 2021 With most professionals working from home, the lines between work life and home life have blurred, causing many of them to overwork and become burned out. — Expert Panel®, Forbes, "14 Pandemic-Induced Work Habits (And How To Break Them)," 26 Feb. 2021 If vodka is a no-go, simply substitute more ice water, taking care not to overwork the dough. — Washington Post, "How to substitute for alcohol in cooking and baking," 23 Dec. 2020 Do not overwork or the dumplings will be too dense. — Amanda Albee, Dallas News, "New Dallas chicken and dumpling cook-off to raise funds for mental health services," 23 Oct. 2020 For the moment, Wellman and his coaches must move forward blind, walking a fine line between wanting to properly train their players and not wanting to overwork them without a clear start date in mind. — Zach Osterman, The Indianapolis Star, "IU football's new strength coach tries to regain lost time, uncertain when season might begin," 2 Sep. 2020

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

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