Basic Details
Word: Overtaxing
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Putting too much strain on someone's body, mind or strength. It can also mean charging people too much tax.
Synonyms: exhausting, draining, straining, gruelling
Antonyms: easy, undemanding, light
How to Spell Overtaxing
Syllables: o - ver - tax - ing
Tricky part: Tax ends in x, and x is not doubled before ing, so the ending goes straight on: overtaxing, not overtaxxing.
Watch out for: overtaxxing, overtaksing, overtaxeing
Memory tip: Picture a donkey loaded with too many sacks: the load is overtaxing its back. The x stands alone, just as in boxing and relaxing.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Studying through the night before every exam is overtaxing your brain.
Example 2: The doctor warned Grandpa against overtaxing himself in the garden.
Example 3: Farmers protested that the new rules were overtaxing small landholders.
Fun Fact
Tax comes from the Latin taxare, to assess or value. Taxi comes from the same root, through taximeter, a meter that works out the fare.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word overtaxing as used in the sentence:
Carrying heavy bags up four floors every day was overtaxing for my grandmother.
a) undemanding
b) exhausting
c) tiring
d) draining
Show answer
a) undemanding. Exhausting, tiring and draining all mean the same as overtaxing; undemanding is a task that asks little.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The physiotherapist warned the young bowler that overtaxxing his shoulder before the tournament could keep him out of cricket for the rest of the season.
a) physiotherapist
b) tournament
c) season
d) overtaxxing
Show answer
d) overtaxxing. Words ending in x, such as tax, box and relax, simply add ing without doubling the x.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. lazyness 2. brethless 3. stamena 4. overtaxing
a) the strength to keep going for a long time
b) putting too great a strain on someone
c) unable to breathe easily
d) unwillingness to work or make an effort
Show answer
b) putting too great a strain on someone. Laziness changes y to i, breathless keeps the a of breath and stamina ends in ina, so overtaxing is the correct spelling.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A government accused of overtaxing its people is ____.
a) giving them free money
b) building more roads
c) lowering every price
d) charging them too much tax
Show answer
d) charging them too much tax
2. Which activity might be overtaxing for a person just out of hospital?
a) resting in bed
b) reading a short story
c) sipping warm soup
d) climbing a steep hill
Show answer
d) climbing a steep hill
