overqualified

American

[oh-ver-kwol-uh-fahyd] / ˈoʊ vərˈkwɒl əˌfaɪd /

adjective

having more education, training, or experience than is required for a job or position.

overqualified British

/ ˌəʊvəˈkwɒlɪˌfaɪd /

adjective

having more managerial experience or academic qualifications than required for a particular job

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of overqualified

First recorded in 1950–55; over- + qualified

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:

overqualified

I’m paid 25 percent less than I was for my job at Meta, with five annual PTO days and zero paid holidays, and I’m overqualified for the work I do.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

Gen Z women participate in the workforce at higher rates than their male counterparts, and often accept jobs they’re overqualified for rather than not working.

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025

She got the hiring manager on board by stressing that this seemingly overqualified candidate was new to developing mobile applications.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

Gilchrist scored 17 Test hundreds as he switched between a destroyer of tiring attacks to a man overqualified for a rebuild from number seven when the great Australian top order did fail.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025

“He told me,” Ellsberg recalled, “that he had been feeling for some time that I was overqualified for this job.”

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023