Overburden

Quick meaning: Overburden is a verb meaning (transitive) To overload or overtax.

Meaning

(transitive) To overload or overtax.

More Meanings

1. (geology) The rock and subsoil that lies above a mineral deposit such as a coal seam, or any other underground feature.
2. (archaeology) A sterile stratum that lies above the stratum being investigated.

Example Sentences

He said the increase would avoid overburdening taxpayers who have subsidised the railways by £31 billion since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Such rocks have been changed by baking in a terrestrial pressure-cooker. Then they have been disinterred: kilometres of overburden must have been removed.

In reality, the levels of work varied: some internationals seemed overburdened with tasks and responsibility, some seemed underburdened, and some faced apparently just the right amount of work.

Settari (2002) and Osorio et al. (1999) also suggest that the analysis domain should include overburdens, sideburdens and underburdens for better accommodation of the coupling effects of stress changes and flow.

Word Forms

• overburdens
• overburdening
• overburdened
• overburthen

Synonyms for overburden

Depending on context, synonyms include inundate, overload, surcharge, swamp, mullock.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include overload, overwhelm, overcharge, encumber, overlying, recovery.

Related Dictionary Tools