overhead
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
overhead¹
- /ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/ UK
- /ˈoʊvɚˌhɛd/ US
- /ˌəʊvəˈhɛd/ UK
- /ˌoʊvɚˈhɛd/ US
Rhymes with -ɛd
Where it comes from
From Middle English owerheved, over-hed, over hede (adverb), from Old English oferhēafod (adverb), equivalent to over- + head. Compare German Low German overhoopt, överhoopt, German überhaupt. Piecewise doublet of overchief.
adjective more overhead · most overhead
- Located above, especially over the head. Place your luggage in the overhead lockers.
- Kicked over one's own head. It was Rooney, however, who produced a moment of inspiration to score a stunning overhead kick that will live forever in the memory of United's fans and extended City's dismal sequence of only one league win in their last 27 visits to Old Trafford.
noun overheads
- The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided.
- The items or classes of expense not directly assigned to goods or services provided.
- Any cost or expenditure (monetary, time, effort or otherwise) incurred in a project or activity, which does not directly contribute to its progress or outcome.
- Wasted money.
- A smash.
- The ceiling of any enclosed space below decks in a vessel.
- A compartment above the seats for stowing luggage in a passenger aircraft. There was no room left in the overheads for our luggage, our seats did not recline, and the washrooms were right behind us.
- The system of overhead wires used to power electric transport, such as streetcars, trains, or buses.
- Data or steps of computation used only to facilitate the computations in the system and not directly related to the actual program code or data being processed. Network overhead is the header data that is required to route and transport data over the network, whereas fork overhead is the additional time and memory cost of creating and managing new processes within the operating system.
- An overhead throw.
- A type of bridge, also commonly known as an overpass or flyover, which carries one form of traffic over another.
adverb more overhead · most overhead
- Above one's head; in the sky. birds flying overhead
- Per head; for each individual. […] the influence of the minister's week-day attentions, first in creating, and afterwards in keeping up among the people of his parish their habit of Sabbath attendance. So indispensable in towns is the connexion between these two things, that were seat-rents let down at this moment to two shilling
preposition
- Above. Cigarette smoke was sucked out through the cracks in the glass of the glazed panes overhead the side street and the parking lot.
overhead²
- /ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/ UK
- /ˈoʊvɚˌhɛd/ US
Rhymes with -ɛd
Where it comes from
(Sense 1) Abbreviation of overhead projector.
: (Sense 2) Back-formation from overhead projector.
noun overheads
- An overhead projector.
- A sheet of transparent material with an image used with an overhead projector; an overhead transparency.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: elevated, smash, aerial, viewgraph, budget items, command overhead, disk overhead, operating cost, operating expenses, above, aloft, height, elevator, congestion, tilt, high
Translations
Every language
adj of, or relating to the operating expenses of a business
| Español | de gastos generales |
|---|
noun expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided
| Español | gastos generales |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | オーバーヘッド ōbāheddo, 間接費 kansetsuhi |
| 中文 | 間接費用 /间接费用 jiànjiē fèiyòng |
| Português | overhead |
| Français | frais généraux |
| Deutsch | allgemeine Unkosten |
| Italiano | costi di gestione |
| Русский | накладны́е расхо́ды nakladnýje rasxódy |
noun any cost or expenditure (monetary, time, effort or otherwise) incurred in a project or activity, which does not directly contribute to the progress or outcome o
| Deutsch | Mehraufwand |
|---|---|
| Italiano | inefficienza |
noun wasted money
| Deutsch | vergeudetes Geld |
|---|
noun system of overhead wires used to power electric transport, such as streetcars, trains, or buses
| Español | cableado/cablerío elevado, cablería de arriba |
|---|
noun data or steps of computation used only to facilitate computation
| Deutsch | Overhead |
|---|
Talk about this word "overhead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/overhead. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. overhead. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/overhead "overhead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/overhead.Cite this
@misc{overhead_2026,
title = {overhead},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/overhead},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
