Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To bind or obligate (oneself, for example) beyond the capacity for realization.
  • intransitive verb To allocate or apportion (money, goods, or resources) in amounts incapable of replacement.
  • intransitive verb To be or become overcommitted.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To make excessive commitments, either beyond one's ability or beyond what is reasonable
  • noun computing Allocation of more resources than are actually available.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

over- +‎ commit

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word overcommit.

Examples

  • Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, cautioned Pakistan not to "overcommit" itself to the deal because it could run afoul of new sanctions against Iran being finalized by Congress.

    arabnews - frontpage 2010

  • Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, cautioned Pakistan not to "overcommit" itself to the deal because it could run afoul of new sanctions against Iran being finalized by Congress.

    Welcome to Iran Focus 2010

  • Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, cautioned Pakistan not to "overcommit" itself to the deal because it could run afoul of new sanctions against Iran being finalized by Congress.

    arabnews - frontpage 2010

  • Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, cautioned Pakistan not to "overcommit" itself to the deal because it could run afoul of new sanctions against Iran being finalized by Congress.

    CBS 2 - KCAL 9 - Los Angeles - Southern California - LA Breaking News, Weather, Traffic, Sports 2010

  • This is in contrast to some other OSes like Linux, which can "overcommit"; they can allocate more memory to applications than they actually have available to them.

    Ars Technica Peter Bright 2010

  • "overcommit" itself to the deal because it could run afoul of new sanctions against Iran being finalized by Congress.

    Latest Headlines - ABC 7 News 2010

  • Zina Saunders It's hard to deny the virtues of this approach: It does not overcommit the West, either militarily or financially; it stems the bloodletting even if it doesn't halt it; and it asks the Libyans to win their own freedom.

    Libya Isn't 'About Regime Change' Bret Stephens 2011

  • Somehow that gave me permission not to overcommit, that the sky wasn't going to fall down on me, etc., if I didn't do a promotional media event.

    Through a Petrie Dish, Darkly 2008

  • He's scored the majority of his six power-play tallies with one-timers from the left faceoff dot, and it will be a challenge for the Caps 'penalty kill to try to prevent that while not leaving any of the Lightning's other offensive weapons from burning them should they overcommit to Stamkos's side of the ice.

    Steven Stamkos leads revamped Lightning to Verizon Center Katie Carrera 2010

  • Now in my 50's I don't want to overcommit--I do it sometimes, but it feels like...um...smoking last night's cigarette that you rolled, and it was great, and you didn't smoke it all...but come the morning, it's about as unappetizing as complulsive over commitment!

    Overcommitted 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.