overdetermined
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of overdetermined
First recorded in 1915–20; over- + determined
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What it emphatically cannot mean is acceding to powerlessness in the face of a bunch of institutions that are working to make it seem as if their omnipotence is inevitable, or irrevocable, or constitutionally overdetermined.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025
An understanding that our most consequential actions are largely overdetermined, meaning not reducible to a single motivation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024
Still, “Saviors,” Green Day’s new album, is a decisive, even overdetermined return to form.
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
In times as unnerving and overdetermined as these, pure chaos might be the only rational response.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
It is overdetermined as indeed all symbols are.
From Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts by Jelliffe, Smith Ely
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
