What does overtime mean?
Overtime means time beyond the usual working hours or the period allotted for a game or task. In the workplace, it commonly refers to extra hours worked, often at a higher rate of pay, although overtime pay need not always be paid. The adverb is especially familiar in the expression “work overtime.” In sport, overtime names an additional period played when the score remains level after regulation. British and American English both use the word, but usage varies: North American English frequently contrasts overtime with regular or straight time, while British English more often calls an additional sports period “extra time.” Overtime can also suggest effort or inconvenience caused by a deadline, as when someone works late to meet it. Overall, the word denotes time added beyond an expected limit, whether for employment, competition, or completion of a task.
Hours worked beyond the normal schedule, or the additional period allowed in a sport or competition.
"The project was delayed because the team had to work overtime."
The sporting sense is especially common in North American English; British English often uses “extra time.”
Beyond the normal working hours or allotted time.
"Employees worked overtime to meet the launch deadline."
The expression “work overtime” is especially common in North American English.
To continue playing after regulation time, usually in an additional period.
"The teams overtimes only if the score is tied."
This verbal use is much less common than the noun and adverb forms and is chiefly associated with American sports usage.
Normally used as an uncountable noun; the plural is rare and refers to separate additional periods, as in a series of games.
"The rivalry culminated in three overtimes."
When the clock runs out, overtime gives the action one more chapter.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does overtime come from?
“Overtime” is a compound formed from “over” and “time,” with the sense of time beyond the usual or allotted period. Its use in employment developed from the broader late-19th-century sense of exceeding a time limit, while the sporting sense arose when competitions adopted extra periods to resolve a tie.
How overtime is actually used
The adverb is particularly common in the pattern “work overtime.” In British English, “extra time” is more usual for a sports period, although “overtime” is also understood. As a count noun, it is usually pluralized as “overtimes” only when referring to separate extra periods.
Easily confused with overtime
“Overtime” usually means extra hours of work or play, whereas “over time” means gradually or across a period of time.
Both can describe a period beyond the scheduled time, but “overtime” commonly refers to work or sports in North American English, while “extra time” is especially common in British English.