Meanings
plural overdependences
- uncountableusuallyExcessive reliance or dependence on something.
We have an overdependence on cheap labor.
1 more example
For many, gay bars have been the traditional vehicle for coming out. Gays, unlike heterosexuals, are rarely provided with homosexual companionship at home or at work. This as made for a frequent overdependence on those social contacts offered by the bar scene — contacts which are often by the nature of their starting point, unfulfilling.
1977 April 30, Steven Blevins, “Sexism in the Bars, Baths, and Bushes”, in Gay Community News, page 5
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*úp
- Proto-Indo-European*upér
- Proto-Germanic*uber
- Old Englishofer-
- Middle Englishover-
- Englishover-
- Englishdependence
- Englishoverdependence
From over- + dependence.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
overdependence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overdependence
“overdependence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overdependence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overdependence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overdependence.
Source: overdependence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.