Overkill

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For other uses, see overkill (disambiguation).

Overkill is a slang term for the use of excessive force that seems to go much further than just achieving its goal. For example, shooting a mouse with a rocket launcher would be overkill. The term is also often used in situations when a person spends a large amount of time or money on a task or component, when a lesser alternative would work just as well. For example, buying 7 mm thick, high quality audio cables to connect a computer to a pair of poor-quality speakers would be overkill.

[edit] Criminology

In criminal profiling, overkill refers to the agressions done by an offender (specially a serial killer) to satisfy his fantasies, and that are not necessary to kill the victim. They are often carried-out post mortem.

[edit] Nuclear application

Overkill is especially used to refer to a destructive nuclear capacity exceeding the amount needed to destroy an enemy. [1]

The term was probably coined in the 1940s and was in common use during cold war era, referring to the arms race between the USA and the USSR (Now Russia). Both nations possessed (and still possess) more than enough nuclear weapons to destroy one another multiple times—nuclear overkill.