overfeed
Americanverb (used with or without object)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overfeedsimple
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overfeedssimple
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have overfedperfect
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has overfedperfect
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am overfeedingprogressive
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are overfeedingprogressive
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is overfeedingprogressive
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have been overfeedingperfect progressive
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has been overfeedingperfect progressive
Past
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overfedsimple
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had overfedperfect
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was overfeedingprogressive
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were overfeedingprogressive
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had been overfeedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overfeed
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:
Don’t overfeed the shrub; an annual dressing with compost is sufficient and won’t produce green growth at the expense of flowers.
From Seattle Times ● May 4, 2024
"We gave her a little bit of food, being careful not to overfeed her," she said.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2024
Salmon farmers sometimes inadvertently overfeed their stock, and the uneaten feed promotes the growth of algal blooms that deoxygenate the water as they decompose.
From Scientific American ● May 7, 2022
“Lilacs don’t like nitrogen and if you overfeed them, you’ll end up with big bushes and no blooms.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2022
There is a great tendency at this stage of growth, when the birds are confined, to overfeed as well as to overheat in the brooders.
From Natural and Artificial Duck Culture by Rankin, James
But we also do very nice portion control, so he never overfeeds me.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2017
He is idle and overfeeds himself: he is punished by gout, indigestion, or apoplexy.
From Thrift by Smiles, Samuel
When a man habitually overfeeds it’s good for his stomach to give it a rest.”
From Grit Lawless by Young, F.E. Mills
One who overfeeds the brain loses in muscular strength.
From Health, Happiness, and Longevity Health without medicine: happiness without money: the result, longevity by McCarty, Louis Philippe
So that an individual who habitually overfeeds becomes, after a time, easily tired, physically lazy, weak, perhaps if temperamentally predisposed, nervous and hypochondriacal.
From No Animal Food and Nutrition and Diet with Vegetable Recipes by Wheldon, Rupert H.
Before, she’d been “hiding behind facades, physically overfed and spiritually undernourished.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
Rucking finds champions in people like writer Michael Easter, whose book The Comfort Crisis contains this line: “We are living progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged, safety-netted lives.”
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2023
“Conventional breeds were overfed protein, under ventilated and our recommendations for hatching were not followed,” Gies said.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2021
It always left us feeling loved and nourished, if slightly overfed.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2021
On Sundays, she would invite his relatives for pounded yam and onugbu soup and then watch over to make sure everyone was suitably overfed.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
But we were overfeeding her because she has more mouths to feed.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
After 18 weeks of overfeeding, it had increased to 8.27, corresponding to being 30% overweight.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2023
"The method of overfeeding, or making sure that the starter is really fresh and lively, tends to make a sweeter, more flavorsome bread."
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2022
With all fertilizers, be sure to read and follow the application directions since overfeeding your plants can be deadly.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2021
How could I get Javier to stop overfeeding his frog?
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
