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
As it stands, the characterization is thin, the motivations are overdetermined, and the Colony’s endurance demands too steep a suspense of disbelief.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2025
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
Each one of the elements of the dream content is overdetermined by the matter of the dream thoughts; it is not derived from one element of these thoughts, but from a whole series.
From Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Freud, Sigmund
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.
