The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word OVERUSE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
O
V
E
R
U
S
E
More clues leading to the result OVERUSE
- Stripping lover by deception is exploitation
- Refer too often to retired vicar dipping in river?
- Runner describes very briefly why injury may occur
- Like our boss, wanting slave ultimately for excessive exploitation
- Discovered novel scheme must be exploitation
- Strain is universal in pilot’s situation, near Heathrow?
- Old poetry university dons do to death
- Perhaps quote too much love poetry with uniform content
- Excessively draw on avant-garde oeuvres
- Excessive exploitation very nearly blocks river
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Excessive exploitation" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case excessive exploitation = overuse.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does OVERUSE mean?
OVERUSE noun- Excessive use
- To use too much of.