belabor

verb

be·​la·​bor bi-ˈlā-bər 

bē-

belabored; belaboring; belabors

transitive verb

1

a

: to attack verbally

If I had been ill-natured, I should have shown up the little great man, who had once belabored me in his feeble way.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes

b

: to beat soundly

… ancient battles in which the combatants belabored one another with swords, staffs, cudgels, halberds and other heavy-duty weapons until the blood flowed …

—James Rogers

2

: to explain or insist on excessively

her habit of belaboring the obvious

He needlessly belabored the point.

Synonyms

• dwell (on or upon)
• harp (on)

Examples of belabor in a Sentence

Her habit of belaboring the obvious makes her a very boring speaker.

Please don't belabor the point.

He uses his newspaper column to belabor writers for even the most minor grammatical errors.

Recent Examples on the Web

Smart, a member of the NCAA rules committee, rarely criticized officiating and didn’t join in with Georgia fans belaboring calls after the 2018 national championship game. —Seth Emerson, The Athletic, 26 Dec. 2024

Jameson really is, at bottom, a committed revolutionary thinker, without boasting about it or belaboring it. —Mark Greif, Harper's Magazine, 26 July 2024

In Tongues said just enough without belaboring any of it thanks to Grattan’s light and graceful yet poignant prose. —Ilana Masad, Them, 25 Nov. 2024

He is backed by well-cast supporting players — even the actors doing fleeting cameos as Churchill (Tim Hudson) and Hitler (Marc Bessant) fully commit to their roles without belaboring the obvious. —Joe Leydon, Variety, 22 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing belabor

• labor/belabor the point

Kids Definition

belabor

verb

be·​la·​bor bi-ˈlā-bər 

1

: to keep explaining or insisting on to excess

I don't want to belabor the point

2

: assail, attack