First recorded in 1950–55; after C. N. Parkinson
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The best way to avoid Parkinson’s law of triviality is to get the agenda right.
From Economist ● Jun. 28, 2018
Parkinson’s law is at work today in our own Defense Department.
From Forbes ● Feb. 11, 2015
It is a pusillanimous, jargon-ridden, self-perpetuating proof of Parkinson's law.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2013
To Gresham's law, Walras' law, Parkinson's law and Mrs. Parkinson's law, students of the human condition can now add Buchwald's law: As the economy gets better, everything else gets worse.
From Time Magazine Archive
I follow Parkinson's Law: work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 6, 2011
Arise one and all and prevent this wanton attempt to repeal Parkinson's Law!
From Time Magazine Archive
Parkinson's Law has been operating to such a degree that high avoidable costs are pricing us out of the world market.
From Time Magazine Archive
In a debate on the latest annual in crease in the council's budget, the Anglican Bishop of Winchester complained that professional ecumenicism seemed to many to be proving Parkinson's Law.
From Time Magazine Archive
This is an inevitable result of Parkinson's Law applied to timesharing.
From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Raymond, Eric S.
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.
