overburden

1 of 2

verb

over·​bur·​den ˌō-vər-ˈbər-dᵊn How to pronounce overburden (audio)
overburdened; overburdening; overburdens

transitive verb

: to place an excessive burden on

overburden

2 of 2

noun

over·​bur·​den ˈō-vər-ˌbər-dᵊn How to pronounce overburden (audio)
: material overlying a deposit of useful geologic materials or bedrock

Examples of overburden in a Sentence

Verb She overburdened me with work. Why overburden yourself when people are offering to help?
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
By taking advantage of priority charging features, users can keep their daily drivers like laptops and tablets in the leftmost ports to keep them topped up and ready to go, while adding lower priority devices further down the line to charge overnight without overburdening the power source. Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024 Without spoiling where the Grace story is going, the new episodes acknowledge what happened without overburdening our hero or his friends with her actions, and then move onto other things as quickly as possible. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2024
Noun
The demand-resource mismatches of burnout, the operational drivers, are substantial and must be addressed: clumsy electronic medical records, understaffing, and administrative overburden, among others. Wendy Dean, STAT, 7 June 2023 Approaches to reduce firearm violence should also be coupled with an investment in addressing social and economic factors such as concentrated poverty and segregation that contribute to an overburden of violence in under-resourced communities. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 31 May 2022 See all Example Sentences for overburden 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overburden.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

1532, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1821, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of overburden was in 1532

Dictionary Entries Near overburden

Cite this Entry

“Overburden.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overburden. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

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