overfished
overfished is the simple past and past participle of overfish.
Meaning of overfish
Verb
overfish (third-person singular simple present overfishes, present participle overfishing, simple past and past participle overfished)
- To fish (an area or a species) excessively, often substantially reducing over several years the supply of one or more species of fish in an area.
- In the 1970s, it become^([sic]) increasingly clear that cod were being overfished in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.2001, Bob Ritter, “Chapter 4: Sustaining Aquatic Ecosystems”, in Science 10, Nelson Thomson Learning, page 152
Adjective
overfished (comparative more overfished, superlative most overfished)
- Fished to the point of sustained reduction of fish species population.
- The Gulf of Thailand became more overfished than ever, causing acrimonious conflicts between domestic artisanal and large-scale fishers.1987, William F. Royce, Fishery Development, page 99
- It is the most overfished of any hole that I know, this Nine Mile Hole.2000, Howard Back, Waters of Yellowstone with Rod and Fly, page 64
Forms of overfished
| comparative | more overfished |
|---|---|
| superlative | most overfished |
Questions about overfished
- What does overfished mean?
- Overfished means fished to the point of sustained reduction of fish species population.
- What is overfished the simple past and past participle of?
- Overfished is the simple past and past participle of overfish.
- What part of speech is overfished?
- Overfished is an adjective.
Words near overfished in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: overfished (page history and authors); overfish (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: “overfished.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overfished. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.