overpopulatev.
/ˌəʊvəˈpɒpjᵿleɪt/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈpɑpjəˌleɪt/ 1. transitive. To populate (an area) in excessive numbers. Also (occasionally) intransitive: to breed too rapidly.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > [verb (transitive)] > excessively
overpeople1683
overpopulate1831
1831 Eclectic Mag. June 515 The natural course of increase must soon over-populate the island.
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun II. xvii. 195 Thousands of Jews..lead a close, unclean, and multitudinous life, resembling that of maggots when they over-populate a decaying cheese.
1891 E. Lee-Hamilton Fountain of Youth i. iii. 34 The wide and general use Of such a cordial would be full of peril, And soon would over-populate the earth.
1921 Sci. Monthly Feb. 135 The Law of Geometrical Ratio of Increase, by which every species tends to over-populate the earth if its natural ratio is not checked.
1972 BC Outdoors 28 50/2 Sea urchins..overpopulated the area and chewed away the kelp holdfasts in search for sustenance.
2002 Sunday Mail (S. Austral.) (Nexis) 16 June b6 Animals..don't pollute the environment, they don't overpopulate and they're happy to go about their own business.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > [verb (transitive)] > excessively > exceed in population
overpopulate1868
1868 H. Bushnell Moral Uses of Dark Things vii. 152 The new solidarity in good..will thus overpopulate and virtually live down the more corrupted families.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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