OVERCROWD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overcrowd mean? 

• OVERCROWD (verb)
  The verb OVERCROWD has 2 senses:

1. cause to crowd together too much

2. crowd together too much

  Familiarity information: OVERCROWD used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVERCROWD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they overcrowd    ... he / she / it overcrowds   
Past simple: overcrowded   
Past participle: overcrowded   
-ing form: overcrowding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to crowd together too much

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The students overcrowded the cafeteria

Hypernyms (to "overcrowd" is one way to...):

crowd; herd (cause to herd, drive, or crowd together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overcrowd"):

surcharge (fill to capacity with people)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

over-crowding (excessive crowding)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Crowd together too much

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "overcrowd" is one way to...):

crowd; crowd together (to gather together in large numbers)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

over-crowding (excessive crowding)

 Context examples 

Risk factors include close (overcrowded) living conditions, and poor hygiene.

(Human Body Louse, NCI Thesaurus)

Now, with this fresh influx of noblemen and cavaliers, food and lodging were scarce to be had, and the prince was hurrying forward his forces to Dax in Gascony to relieve the overcrowding of his capital.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Having thus, amid a general titter, played very prettily with his interrupter, the lecturer went back to his picture of the past, the drying of the seas, the emergence of the sand-bank, the sluggish, viscous life which lay upon their margins, the overcrowded lagoons, the tendency of the sea creatures to take refuge upon the mud-flats, the abundance of food awaiting them, their consequent enormous growth.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)