overemployed
overemployed is the simple past and past participle of overemploy.
Adjective
overemployed (comparative more overemployed, superlative most overemployed)
- Employed for more hours than full-time work.
- People who remain overemployed tolerate longer hours because they either expect their overemployment to be brief (such as temporary care-giving), or figure that part-time or reduced hours status involves too large a sacrifice in terms of benefit coverage or job status.2003, John de Graaf, Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America, →ISBN
- Those working on a regular daytime shift, the vast majority of US workers, have a slightly raised likelihood of being overemployed compared to those working the evening shift (the reference group).2006, Jean-Yves Boulin, Michel Lallement, Decent Working Time: New Trends, New Issues, →ISBN, page 227
- Working multiple jobs at the same time, often without the knowledge of one's employers.
- [Sarah] Murphy is one of the "overemployed"—employees secretly working more than one full-time job, aided by the rise of remote work ushered in by the Covid-19 pandemic.2022 September 27, Fadeke Adegbuyi, “The Unlikely Cure for Burnout? A Second Job”, in Wired, San Francisco, C.A.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2023
- With recent posts like "7 Tips to Avoid Lifestyle Creep When Making $600K", and "$1.2M with 5 IT Jobs", it’s easy to see the appeal of becoming overemployed when people are overwhelmed.2022 October 17, Chris Westfall, “Troubling Trend Of Overemployment: Can A Side Hustle Get You Fired?”, in Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2023
Meaning of overemploy
Verb
overemploy (third-person singular simple present overemploys, present participle overemploying, simple past and past participle overemployed)
- To overuse.
- He overemploys several constructions — most obviously dance trios in which the three dancers all follow the same figure-eight floor pattern — and several steps (notably the Bournonville grand jeté, an advancing jump toward the audience with back leg held at an angle).2015 October 22, Alastair Macaulay, “Review: American Ballet Theater’s Opening Gala”, in New York Times
Forms of overemployed
| comparative | more overemployed |
|---|---|
| superlative | most overemployed |
Origin of overemployed
From overemploy + -ed.
From over- + employed.
Words formed from overemployed
Questions about overemployed
- What does overemployed mean?
- Overemployed means employed for more hours than full-time work.
- What is overemployed the simple past and past participle of?
- Overemployed is the simple past and past participle of overemploy.
- What part of speech is overemployed?
- Overemployed is an adjective.
Words near overemployed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: overemployed (page history and authors); overemploy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “overemployed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overemployed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.