OVEREXPLOITATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overexploitation mean? 

• OVEREXPLOITATION (noun)
  The noun OVEREXPLOITATION has 1 sense:

1. exploitation to the point of diminishing returns

  Familiarity information: OVEREXPLOITATION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVEREXPLOITATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exploitation to the point of diminishing returns

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

overexploitation; overuse; overutilisation; overutilization

Hypernyms ("overexploitation" is a kind of...):

development; exploitation (the act of making some area of land or water more profitable or productive or useful)

Derivation:

overexploit (exploit excessively)

 Context examples 

Walrus-hunting and the ivory trade were likely the cause of the extinction, one of the earliest examples of commercially driven overexploitation of marine resources.

(Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement, National Science Foundation)

The mysterious disappearance of Greenland’s Norse colonies sometime in the 15th century may have been down to the overexploitation of walrus populations for their tusks, according to a study of medieval artefacts from across Europe.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

Most examples of trade, human overexploitation, and extinction of local marine resources from overfishing and commercial whaling are from more recent dates.

(Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement, National Science Foundation)