Meaning

4 senses
  1. (literally, uncountable)A destructive capacity that exceeds that needed to destroy an enemy; especially with nuclear weapons.

    the capability to obliterate a target with more weapons (especially nuclear weapons) than are required

  2. (literally, uncountable)Destruction beyond what is necessary to kill, especially in murder.

  3. (broadly, uncountable)An unnecessary excess of whatever is needed to achieve a goal.

    24 hours of TV coverage of the US election verged on overkill.

    Should I give you yet more homework, or would that be overkill?

    Overkill, Übermaß

    переги́бperegíb, перебо́рperebór, перевыполнениеperevypolnenije

    any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goal

  4. (uncountable)An unnecessary excess of disposal because of too high criteria of inspection.

Examples

6 sentences
  1. Doing it that way would be overkill.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  2. The fiscal austerity may lead to an overkill of the economy.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · AMIKEMA · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. It would be overkill, Tom.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · soliloquist · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. Isn't that overkill?

    deIst das nicht so, als wollte man mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schießen?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Hybrid · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  5. Listing every tree by its name would be overkill, but allow me to name at least one: the fig tree.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · DJ_Saidez · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
unnecessary excess:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
unnecessary excess:

Origin

Dutch kilbor.

Dutch kilbor.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Antonyms

1 antonyms

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
overkill — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto