overburden
Americanverb (used with object)
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
Generally colliery tips were located on steep hillsides, whereas Ffos-y-Fran's overburden mounds sit "on ground with gentle gradients", with differences too in terms of how they were constructed and their drainage systems, they said.
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
I helped my parents carry their tools, and they walked ahead so straight, each carrying a basket or a hoe not to overburden me, their tears falling privately.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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
Though Strauss treats his voices with more consideration in "Der Rosenkavalier" than in his tragedies, he still so overburdens them that the words are distinguishable only at intervals.
From A Second Book of Operas by Krehbiel, Henry Edward
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 underlying rationale for corporate tax cuts has long been that American businesses were overburdened by taxes compared with their overseas colleagues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
People’s lives are overburdened enough or they simply find the news too upsetting.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2025
Both of them overburdened and ill-equipped, weak by nature or circumstance, married to strong-willed, selfish men, addicted to the opiate of sleep.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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
While retailers and shop workers have welcomed the anticipated proposals, a civil liberties group has raised concerns about criminalising people struggling to make ends meet and overburdening the prison system.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2024
He said $1.35 billion comes close to the city’s need while not overburdening people on fixed incomes.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 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
The main problem seemed to be overburdening and inefficiency imposed by the system of health care.
From Area Handbook for Bulgaria by Baluyut, Violeta D.
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.
