overburden
Americanverb (used with object)
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overburdens,
present (3rd person singular)
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overburdened,
past participle, past
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overburdening
present participle
noun
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an excessive burden.
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Also called burden, capping. Mining. waste earth and rock covering a mineral deposit.
verb
noun
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an excessive burden or load
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geology the sedimentary rock material that covers coal seams, mineral veins, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overburdensimple
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overburdenssimple
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have overburdenedperfect
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has overburdenedperfect
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am overburdeningprogressive
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are overburdeningprogressive
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is overburdeningprogressive
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have been overburdeningperfect progressive
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has been overburdeningperfect progressive
Past
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overburdenedsimple
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had overburdenedperfect
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was overburdeningprogressive
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were overburdeningprogressive
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had been overburdeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overburden
Explanation
When you give someone too much to carry, you overburden them. Don't overburden yourself with too much gear in your hiking backpack, or you'll never make it up the mountain! You can literally overburden someone, which you do whenever you ask them to hold too much weight: "Let me carry some of those books. I don't want you to overburden yourself" There's also a figurative way to overburden another person, by pressuring them or making them work too hard: "If the budget cuts go through and school aides are laid off, it will overburden teachers."
Vocabulary lists containing overburden
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.
See Examples For:
In the end, some 125 took the offer, threatening to overburden a corps already struggling to inspect even a sliver of the nation’s 130,000 licensed firearms dealers.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
But critics counter that a potential 50% jump in property-tax bills, even phased in over five years as envisioned, would overburden residents already feeling higher prices for groceries, gas and other essentials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
It says the overburden mounds were constructed to an approved design in compliance with regulations and had been monitored by a specialist.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
The bankruptcy trustee alleged the producers and Lemonis worked to divide the business owners and overburden the company with debt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2023
“We cannot overburden our pack animals; the Princess Eilonwy and Gurgi will share our own horses.”
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
He occasionally overburdens the reader with minutiae of political and organizational rivalries and is more workman than stylist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
This simultaneously overburdens and disempowers the lower courts.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2025
That means tools such as vaccines will be prioritized; but in countries where dengue is endemic, the rainy season completely overburdens their health systems and what they desperately need are treatments, said Crockett.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 4, 2023
Laura Cantrell is an emphatic single-syllable rhymer, a classic-minded country singer who never overburdens a song: Her last album was a collection of Kitty Wells covers, and that’s about as contemporary as her tastes run.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2014
In conferring grades and passing examinations, it arranges and overburdens the school program of study; hence, it incites in others what it practices at home, the over-training of youth, and a factitious, hot-house education.
From The Modern Regime, Volume 2 by John Durand
He said the government was "passing the buck to overstretched schools and overburdened teachers", adding that they were being asked to adapt without clear expectations of what an inclusive school must provide.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
The industry went through a difficult time in the 2010s because of overburdened balance sheets, and now many companies are staying lean to be flexible for the future.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
The overburdened sergeant rarely gets more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
The trauma center is overburdened and under-resourced, forcing Robby and his fellow attending physicians to encourage their residents and interns to think creatively without losing empathy for their patients.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2026
Faint to my ears came the gathered rumour of all lands: the springing and the dying, the song and the weeping, and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
However, opponents said the proposals risked overburdening already stretched services.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
As an advocate for better food in schools and hospitals, she sees her love of “cheats” as a tool to help institutions create better meals without overburdening their staff.
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2024
The coalition warned, however, that doing so could “further marginalize high-risk populations and divert resources from struggling facilities while simultaneously overburdening higher-level facilities.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
Its creators wanted to avoid overburdening the Weather Service’s computing system, so it does not include as many variables as a private company’s proprietary one might, he said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
There was to be no cutting, nor lashing, nor abusing with overburdening tasks.
From Our World, Or, the Slaveholder's Daughter by F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
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.
