Overkill is the use of excessive force or action that goes further than what is necessary to achieve its goal. It may be a literal term referring to physical damage, though it is also used in colloquial conversation as a metaphor.
The term is attested from 1946[2] and was in common use during the Cold War era, referring to the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both nations possess more than enough nuclear weapons to destroy one another many times over – nuclear overkill. The term for this was "pounding the rubble" or, as military officers sometimes joked, "pounding the ruble".
In video gamesedit
Overkill is a common feature implemented in many video games, typically representing the fact that the damage a single attack inflicted on an enemy or player character far exceeded the character's remaining health points. In many first-person shooters, starting with Doom, overkilling a character results in "gibbing" – the character exploding in a shower of gore.
Notesedit
Look up overkill in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
overkill, term, overkill, excessive, force, action, that, goes, further, than, what, necessary, achieve, goal, literal, term, referring, physical, damage, though, also, used, colloquial, conversation, metaphor, nuclear, weapons, editoverkill, especially, used,. Overkill is the use of excessive force or action that goes further than what is necessary to achieve its goal It may be a literal term referring to physical damage though it is also used in colloquial conversation as a metaphor Nuclear weapons editOverkill is especially used to refer to a destructive nuclear capacity exceeding the amount needed to destroy an enemy 1 The term is attested from 1946 2 and was in common use during the Cold War era referring to the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union Both nations possess more than enough nuclear weapons to destroy one another many times over nuclear overkill The term for this was pounding the rubble or as military officers sometimes joked pounding the ruble In video games editOverkill is a common feature implemented in many video games typically representing the fact that the damage a single attack inflicted on an enemy or player character far exceeded the character s remaining health points In many first person shooters starting with Doom overkilling a character results in gibbing the character exploding in a shower of gore Notes edit nbsp Look up overkill in Wiktionary the free dictionary http dictionary reference com browse overkill gt overkill Online Etymology Dictionary Douglas Harper Historian 31 March 2009 lt Dictionary com http dictionary reference com browse overkill gt nbsp This slang article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte nbsp This article about the English language is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Overkill term amp oldid 1188410607 Nuclear weapons, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
