over-use
Britishverb
noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But decades of over-use, coupled with years of drought, have put crippling strain on a watercourse whose management has always been based on an over-allocation of available resources.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
From a neurochemical perspective, "the psychological mechanisms behind 'never wrongs' include a complex web of defensive processes, most commonly the over-use of primary, or lower-order defense mechanisms," Behr added.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2023
But the chemical bombardment is beginning to worry scientists who fear over-use of pesticides is harming pollinators and worsening a growing threat to birds that eat insects.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2022
Tesla's chosen site borders a water protection area, and environmental groups have expressed concern the factory could contaminate and over-use its groundwater sources.
From Reuters ● Sep. 28, 2021
I sent him to his bunk, and read through the endless hours until my eyes were tired, and my brain, between lack of sleep and over-use, was fuzzy.
From The Mutiny of the Elsinore by Jack London
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
