belabor
Americanverb (used with object)
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to explain, worry about, or work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary.
He kept belaboring the point long after we had agreed.
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to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule.
a book that belabors the provincialism of his contemporaries.
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to beat vigorously; ply with heavy blows.
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Obsolete. to labor at.
Etymology
Origin of belabor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I appreciate the performers not wanting to belabor their lines.
From Los Angeles Times
Not to belabor the reptile references, but Byrne is something of a creative chameleon, moving easily from drama to comedy to horror, film to television to stage and back again.
From Los Angeles Times
His restraint suits a story in which machine-kind and humankind begin to feel shrink-wrapped together, the ghosts belabored by increasing social pressure, the humans jolted by high-voltage wires.
From Los Angeles Times
A belabored gait might mean he was carrying a stack of thick envelopes, the sort that indicate acceptance.
Olsen: I don’t want to belabor the point, but I’m so curious about this.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
