Parkinson's law

or Parkinson's Law

noun

1. the statement, expressed facetiously as if a law of physics, that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.

Parkinson's law

noun

1. the notion, expressed facetiously as a law of economics, that work expands to fill the time available for its completion

Parkinson's Law

1. A law propounded by the twentieth-century British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson. It states, “ Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of Parkinson's law¹

First recorded in 1950–55; after C. N. Parkinson

Word History and Origins

Origin of Parkinson's law¹

C20: named after C. N. Parkinson (1909–93), British historian and writer, who formulated it