overcrowded

adjective

over·​crowd·​ed ˌō-vər-ˈkrau̇-dəd 

: crowded or filled to excess : having too many people or things

overcrowded streets/cities/classrooms

living in overcrowded conditions

… having an overcrowded space can make it hard for buyers to … visualize their own belongings in the space, said Los Angeles-based designer Francesca Grace.

—Jennifer Tzeses

… some 5 million workers commute for up to three hours on trains so overcrowded that there seem to be as many passengers hanging on to the outside of the carriages as there are inside.

—Ismail Merchant

Examples of overcrowded in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Set in a busy and overcrowded emergency room in Pittsburgh, the show, Inkoo Kang argues, is actually a comfort watch. —Ian Crouch, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2025

People living in hotels or in overcrowded households with family or friends are also considered homeless but not by federal agencies. —Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 31 Mar. 2025

Hundreds of people gathered at the corner of Southwest 177th Avenue and 12th Street, holding signs and chanting outside the overcrowded Krome Detention Center entrance on Saturday. —Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 29 Mar. 2025

My teeth were both crooked and overcrowded; in the 1960s metal braces were considered the solution. —Valerie Monroe, Allure, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of overcrowd

First Known Use

1725, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overcrowded

• clouded
• crowded
• shrouded
• enshrouded
• unclouded
• uncrowded