overkill
verb
\
Definition of overkill
(Entry 1 of 2)
overkill
noun
\
Definition of overkill (Entry 2 of 2)
Keep scrolling for more
Synonyms & Antonyms for overkill
Synonyms: Noun
bellyful, excess, fat, overabundance, overage, overflow, overmuch, overplus, oversupply, plethora, plus, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, surplusage
Antonyms: Noun
deficiency, deficit, insufficiency, undersupply
Visit the Thesaurus for More
Examples of overkill in a Sentence
Noun
Yes, we need a new car, but this huge truck seems like overkill. the song already borders on the maudlin—the addition of a syrupy string accompaniment would just be overkillRecent Examples on the Web: Verb
These guys need nine lives, as much as they’ve been overkilled. — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty: We're living in the age of hype," 25 Aug. 2017Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
This flurry of warm-weather reading challenges might seem like overkill. — Nora Mcgreevy, BostonGlobe.com, "Slime, pig kissing, and duct tape: Educators get creative to keep kids reading over the summer," 8 Aug. 2019 Prices range from $599 for a base model with a dinky Intel Celeron processor and anemic storage and RAM all the way up to $1,599 for something that’s overkill for nearly everybody. — Dieter Bohn, The Verge, "Google Pixel Slate review: slapdash," 27 Nov. 2018 Peng Feng of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences warns that the use of the credit system is overkill, raising a risk that officials will abuse their power. — The Economist, "Cheerleaders and police usher in a new era of trash-sorting," 4 July 2019 The killings pile up, yet Jarmusch, the master of mellowdrama, would rather die than be accused of overkill. — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, "“The Dead Don’t Die” Does the Zombie Genre to Death," 14 June 2019 That might seem a bit of overkill, but Jaczkowski has a good reason for being cautious. — Robert Allen, Detroit Free Press, "Autos vs. bikes: Watch for shrinking roads in metro Detroit," 10 June 2019 Smollett’s attorney said the new charges, which came a little more than two weeks after Smollett was charged with a single felony count, are overkill. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "What happened? A timeline of the Jussie Smollett case," 20 Feb. 2019 There are now three NFL games on Thanksgiving, which seems like overkill. — Jason Gay, WSJ, "27 More Rules of Thanksgiving Family Touch Football," 19 Nov. 2018 This might sound like overkill, but remember: Chlamydia can be an STD with no symptoms, meaning your partner could have it and have no idea. — Amy Marturana, SELF, "5 STDs You Can Have Without Knowing It," 28 Dec. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'overkill.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for overkill
overkill
noun
English Language Learners Definition of overkill
See the full definition for overkill in the English Language Learners Dictionary
Keep scrolling for more