Parkinson's law
noun
the statement, expressed facetiously as if a law of physics, that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
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Parkinson's law
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Parkinson's Law
Parkinson's LawA law propounded by the twentieth-century British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson. It states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Parkinson's law
American
Or
Parkinson's Law
noun
Parkinson's law
British
noun
Parkinson's Law
Cultural
Etymology
Origin of Parkinson's law
First recorded in 1950–55; after C. N. Parkinson
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:
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
He warned that yearly synods could become a prime example of Parkinson's Law and a burden to all.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some employers fall victim to an electronic version of Parkinson's Law: Work expands to fill the digitized time available for its completion.
From Time Magazine Archive
And another week that illustrated the video corollary of Parkinson's Law: the significance of an event expands according to the TV time allotted for it.
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 Eric S. Raymond
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.
