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

• dwell (on or upon)
• harp (on)

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

He is backed by well-cast supporting players — even the actors doing fleeting cameos as Churchill (Tim Hudson) and Hitler (Marc Bessant) fully commit to their roles without belaboring the obvious. —Joe Leydon, Variety, 22 Nov. 2024

Why Ole Miss will make the Playoff Not to belabor the point, but the SEC is won in the trenches, and the combination of Nolen, Umanmielen and Ivey will be hard for teams to manage. —Seth Emerson, The Athletic, 29 Aug. 2024

In stating the obvious, Smith didn’t belabor the obvious point. —John Tamny, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024

To the filmmakers’ credit, the formulaic aspects are never belabored, and the gentle hints of a possible romance with Gretchen are nicely underplayed. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing belabor

• labor/belabor the point

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