overkill

About 0.28 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun A destructive capacity that exceeds that needed to destroy an enemy; especially with nuclear weapons.
2. noun Destruction beyond what is necessary to kill, especially in murder.
3. noun An unnecessary excess of whatever is needed to achieve a goal.

   24 hours of TV coverage of the US election verged on overkill.

4. noun An unnecessary excess of disposal because of too high criteria of inspection.
5. verb To destroy something with more (nuclear) force than is required.
6. verb To dispose of too many items because of too-high criteria of inspection.
7. verb To do something excessive to achieve a goal.

Similar words

overdone overreaction overblown exaggerated undue excessive inordinate escalation far-fetched exaggeration

Often followed by

for in and of to is capacity hypothesis that

Word family

overkilled overkilling overkills