belabor
verb
be·la·bor
bi-ˈlā-bər 
bē-
belabored; belaboring; belabors
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
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
James Rogers2
: to explain or insist on excessively
her habit of belaboring the obvious
He needlessly belabored the point.
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
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
Why Ole Miss will make the Playoff Not to belabor the point, but the SEC is won in the trenches, and the combination of Nolen, Umanmielen and Ivey will be hard for teams to manage.
—Seth Emerson, The Athletic, 29 Aug. 2024
In stating the obvious, Smith didn’t belabor the obvious point.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024
To the filmmakers’ credit, the formulaic aspects are never belabored, and the gentle hints of a possible romance with Gretchen are nicely underplayed.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See all Example Sentences for belabor 
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Joe Leydon, Variety, 22 Nov. 2024
Why Ole Miss will make the Playoff Not to belabor the point, but the SEC is won in the trenches, and the combination of Nolen, Umanmielen and Ivey will be hard for teams to manage.
—Seth Emerson, The Athletic, 29 Aug. 2024
In stating the obvious, Smith didn’t belabor the obvious point.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2024
To the filmmakers’ credit, the formulaic aspects are never belabored, and the gentle hints of a possible romance with Gretchen are nicely underplayed.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See all Example Sentences for belabor
Dictionary Entries Near belabor
Cite this Entry
“Belabor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belabor. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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belabor
verb
be·la·bor
bi-ˈlā-bər
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