Parkinson's law

or Parkinson's Law


noun

the statement, expressed facetiously as if a law of physics, that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.

Origin of Parkinson's law

First recorded in 1950–55; after C. N. Parkinson

British Dictionary definitions for parkinson's law

Parkinson's law

noun

the notion, expressed facetiously as a law of economics, that work expands to fill the time available for its completion

Word Origin for Parkinson's law

C20: named after C. N. Parkinson (1909–93), British historian and writer, who formulated it

Cultural definitions for parkinson's law

Parkinson's Law

A law propounded by the twentieth-century British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson. It states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”