overwork

overwork — verb

1. to keep working past a healthy limit, or to push another person or animal past t

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to keep working past a healthy limit, or to push another person or animal past that limit.

Example

Mei overworked herself before the school play and lost her voice.

reflexive pattern: overwork yourself

The farm overworked its horses during the long summer harvest.

transitive: overwork + animal

Common collocations
  • overwork yourself
  • overwork staff
  • overwork interns
  • overwork horses
  • badly overwork young players
Synonyms
  • exhaust

    focuses more on leaving someone with no energy than on the work itself

  • overstrain

    more formal and often suggests harm to the body or nerves

  • wear out

    broader and common in everyday speech for making someone very tired

Antonyms
  • rest

    to stop working so the body can recover

  • pace yourself

    to control your effort so you do not do too much

Grammar Patterns

overwork

overwork yourself

overwork + person/animal

Usage Note

Often used reflexively for your own habits, as in 'overwork yourself'. In transitive use, the object is usually a person or an animal, not the job itself.

Common Mistakes

The manager overworked to the interns in July.
The manager overworked the interns in July.
transitive use takes a direct object.
Mia overworked her before the exam week.
Mia overworked herself before exam week.
when the same person does and receives the action, use a reflexive pronoun.

overwork — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

For verb sense 1, overwork means doing or demanding more work than is good for health. Exhaust focuses more on the result: someone has no energy left, even if work was not the only cause. Overstrain is more formal and often suggests physical or mental damage from too much effort. Wear out is common in everyday speech and is broader, because people, shoes, or machines can all wear out. Burn out usually describes a longer process of pressure that leaves someone empty and unable to care. A manager may overwork interns during a busy month; months of that pressure may burn them out.

exhaust ↗overstrainwear out ↗burn out ↗

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Overwork is a modern English compound built from over-, meaning 'too much', and work. The verb first names working beyond a healthy limit or making another person do that, and the noun later names the harmful condition that comes from it.