overdose
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An excessive and dangerous dose of a drug.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ohverdohsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈoʊvɚdoʊs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An excessive and dangerous dose of a drug.
verb
transitive
To dose to excess; to give an overdose, or too many doses, to someone.
Dose too heavily
“The rock star overdosed and was found dead in his hotel room.”
intransitivefigurative
To indulge in something excessively.
intransitive
To dose excessively, to take an overdose.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An excessive and dangerous dose of a drug.
Used this way, overdose is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use overdose
- “The rock star overdosed and was found dead in his hotel room.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
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Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- morphinenoun
- antidepressantnoun
- aspirinnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.