do to death

verb

Of a trope, joke, topic, idea, etc, to use so often that it becomes trite.

“It's hard to find novel screenplays. All the usual stories have been done to death.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbdo to death (third-person singular simple present does to death, present participle doing to death, simple past did to death, past participle done to death)

present singular third person does to death · participle present doing to death · past did to death · participle past done to death

  1. Of a trope, joke, topic, idea, etc, to use so often that it becomes trite.

    It's hard to find novel screenplays. All the usual stories have been done to death.

    1 more example

    If you're interested in the process we're using for redecking the ship, we've absolutely done that to death. There's links to several different videos in the description below.

    2023 January 27, Battleship New Jersey, 4:07 from the start, in Maintaining Your Battleship: Jan 2023 Update
  2. obsoleteTo put to death.

    So will I not […] Behold ſo many of my country men, All done to death and ſtrangled in one day, […]

    1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act IV
Cite this entry
APA

do to death. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20to%20death

MLA

“do to death.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20to%20death. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “do to death,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20to%20death.

Source: do to death on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.