# overhead

/ˈoʊvɝˈhɛd/ (US)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/overhead
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. above you

adverb · CEFR B1

above your head or in the sky.

For teachers: in a location directly above the observer or in the sky.

- A large bird circled slowly overhead in the clear blue sky.
- The thunder rumbled directly overhead, shaking the windows of the old house and startling the residents.

### 2. located above

adjective · CEFR B1

placed or happening above you.

For teachers: situated or occurring above the head or in the upper part of a space.

- The plane has large overhead bins for your carry-on luggage.
- The city replaced the old overhead power lines with underground cables to improve the aesthetic of the historic district.

### 3. business costs

noun · CEFR B2

the regular costs of running a business, like rent and electricity, that are not for specific products.

For teachers: the ongoing administrative and operational expenses of a business which cannot be attributed to any specific unit of output.

- The shop had to close because the monthly overhead was too high.
- By automating the billing process, the firm managed to reduce its administrative overhead and improve overall profitability.

Usage: Usually used as an uncountable noun in this sense.

### 4. computing resources

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

extra time or memory a computer uses to manage a task rather than doing the task itself.

For teachers: the processing time, memory, or bandwidth required to coordinate or facilitate a task rather than to perform the task itself.

- The new security software adds a lot of overhead to the system.
- The developer sought to minimize the communication overhead between the distributed servers to ensure low latency for the end users.

### 5. nautical ceiling

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

the ceiling of a room inside a ship.

For teachers: the underside of a deck, forming the ceiling of a cabin or compartment below.

- The sailor had to duck his head to avoid hitting the overhead.
- The pipes were mounted along the overhead of the engine room to keep the walkway clear for the crew.

### 6. projector sheet

noun · CEFR B2 · Archaic

a clear plastic sheet used to show images on a wall with a special machine.

For teachers: a transparent sheet containing text or images for use with an overhead projector.

- The teacher wrote the math problems on an overhead so the whole class could see.
- Before the era of digital presentations, speakers would often carry a folder full of hand-drawn overheads to their lectures.

Teaching tip: This sense is largely obsolete in modern offices and schools due to the rise of digital projectors and screens.

## Examples

- We need to reduce our monthly overhead to stay profitable.
- The company decided to move to a smaller office to lower their overhead and invest more in research.
- While the startup's gross margins were impressive, the high administrative overhead eventually drained their venture capital reserves before they could reach a sustainable scale.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.