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overhead

adjective · noun · adverb

Simple meaning

The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ohverhehd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Located above, especially over the head.

  2. Located or originating from above

noun

  1. uncountablebusinessaccounting

    The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided.

  2. uncountable

    Any cost or expenditure (monetary, time, effort or otherwise) incurred in a project or activity, which does not directly contribute to its progress or outcome.

  3. A compartment above the seats for stowing luggage in a passenger aircraft.

  4. countable

    A sheet of transparent material with an image used with an overhead projector; an overhead transparency.

  5. A transparency for use with an overhead projector

adverb

  1. Above the head; over the head

  2. Above your head; in the sky

  3. Above one's head; in the sky.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Located above, especially over the head.

Used this way, overhead is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
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 overhead

  • “Planes were flying overhead.”adverb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Expense

overhead expense

Cost

overhead rate

Other combinations

overhead projectordirectly overheadoverhead costoverhead capital

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • overhead projectornounCompound term

    A projector operated by a speaker.

  • overhead railwaynounCompound term

    A railway that is powered by electricity and that runs on a track that is raised above the street level.

  • command processing overheadnounCompound term

    The processing time required by a device prior to the execution of a command.

  • command processing overhead timenounCompound term

    The processing time required by a device prior to the execution of a command.

  • command overheadnounCompound term

    The processing time required by a device prior to the execution of a command.

  • disk overheadnounCompound term

    The disk space required for information that is not data but is used for location and timing.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: expense of a business not directly assigned to goods

operating cost

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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.