Definition

1. Verb:
   • To feed excessively: To give more food to a person, animal, or plant than is necessary or healthy.
   • To eat excessively: (Less common, often reflexive) To consume more food than is necessary.

Usage

• As a transitive verb (with an object): You overfeed someone or something.
• As an intransitive verb: A person or animal can overfeed.
• Often used in the passive voice or as a past participle (overfed) to describe the state resulting from the action.

Examples

• Transitive use:
  • New parents sometimes worry they might overfeed their baby.
  • Do not overfeed the fish; too much food will pollute the tank water.
• Intransitive / Reflexive use:
  • During the holidays, it's easy to overfeed.
• Past Participle (Adjectival use):
  • The overfed cat had difficulty jumping onto the sofa.
  • The plants looked sickly, likely overfed with fertilizer.

Advanced Usage

• "To overfeed on something": To consume an excessive amount of a specific type of food.
  • The children overfed on candy at the party and felt sick afterwards.
• Used in technical or agricultural contexts to describe improper nutrient management.
  • The farmer realized he had been overfeeding the crops with nitrogen.

Variants and Related Words

• Overfed (adjective): Describing a state of having been given too much food.
  • An overfed population of deer can damage the local ecosystem.
• Overfeeding (noun): The act or instance of feeding too much.
  • Overfeeding is a common cause of digestive issues in pets.

Synonyms

• Stuff: To fill with food to excess (informal).
• Glut: To supply or fill to excess.
• Surfeit: To supply or feed to excess.

Antonyms

• Underfeed: To provide with insufficient food.
• Starve: To suffer or cause to suffer from a severe lack of food.

Related Phrases

• To kill with kindness: (Idiom) To harm someone through excessive generosity or care, which can include overfeeding.
  • By giving her dog treats all day, she was killing it with kindness.

Verb

1. feed excessively