Link Centre Dictionary

overkill

over·kill

UK/ˌəʊvəˈkɪl/ US/ˌoʊvɚˈkɪl/ uncommon

noun

1.

the capability to obliterate a target with more weapons (especially nuclear weapons) than are required

2.

any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goal

Origin

From over- + kill.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.