noun

overkill

OH-vuh-kihl

noun

Far more force, effort, or resources than a situation actually calls for.

"Bringing three lawyers to a parking dispute felt like overkill."

"Using a sledgehammer to crack that nut was total overkill."

The capacity to destroy far more than is needed, especially with weapons.

"Cold War arsenals reached levels of overkill that could destroy the planet many times over."

How to Use Overkill

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishDoing or using way more than necessary.

Common mistake

Almost always used as "that's overkill" or "total overkill" — it's rarely used as a verb in everyday speech.

Common pairings

total overkill that's overkill pure overkill

overkilled past tense, overkills singular

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Bringing three lawyers to a parking dispute felt like _____.

Built from over- + kill, originally coined to describe Cold War nuclear stockpiles that vastly exceeded what was needed to destroy a target.