overburden
/ˌəʊvəˈbɜːdn/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌəʊvərˈbɜːrdn/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌō-vər-ˈbər-dᵊn/ (ame, mw)
overburden — verb
- overburdenpresent simple I / you / we / they
- overburdenshe / she / it
- overburdenedpast simple
- overburdening-ing form
1. to put so much work, weight, debt, or responsibility on a person, place, or syst
to put so much work, weight, debt, or responsibility on a person, place, or system that it becomes hard for them to cope well.
Justin worried that the extra night shifts would overburden the small clinic.
overburden + institution with too much work
New reporting rules overburdened teachers with paperwork every Friday afternoon.
overburden somebody with something
The heavy suitcases overburdened the old luggage cart on the station ramp.
Medical bills overburdened Adina's family budget after her father's surgery.
Constant alerts can overburden a support team before the morning meeting begins.
文法句型
overburden somebody/something with something
be overburdened with something
用法筆記
Often used when the thing added is more than people or systems can handle sensibly. The most common pattern is 'overburden someone or something with X', and the passive form 'be overburdened with X' is frequent in reports and formal writing.
常見錯誤
overburden — noun
1. soil, rock, and similar earth lying above coal, ore, or bedrock that must be cle
soil, rock, and similar earth lying above coal, ore, or bedrock that must be cleared away before digging or mining can reach what is underneath.
Engineers measured the overburden above the coal seam before choosing the drilling method.
overburden above [deposit]
Weeks of rain turned the overburden into slippery mud around the open pit.
Trucks hauled the overburden to a storage mound at the edge of the site.
Inspectors checked whether the overburden contained chemicals that could pollute the stream.
Removing too much overburden at once made the slope unstable.
- cover layer
a looser descriptive phrase, not the standard mining term.
- topsoil
only part of the overburden; overburden can include deeper soil and rock as well.
文法句型
remove overburden
overburden above a seam or deposit
用法筆記
Mainly used in geology and mining. It usually refers to the mass of earth above a useful layer, not to ordinary soil in everyday gardening or building contexts.