overfeed
/'ouvə'fi:d/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- 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
- feed excessively