overcapacity

noun

over·​ca·​pac·​i·​ty ˌō-vər-kə-ˈpa-sə-tē 

-ˈpa-stē

: excessive capacity for production or services in relation to demand

Examples of overcapacity in a Sentence

The airlines are lowering their prices because of an overcapacity of seats.

Recent Examples on the Web

These local governments’ efforts to outdo one another in carrying out Beijing’s strategy yielded widespread overcapacity and huge amounts of waste. — Scott Singer, Foreign Affairs, 12 Oct. 2026

Europe has long charged Beijing with deflating the yuan, by perhaps as much as 30%, and pursuing a policy of industrial overcapacity that harms European industries. — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2026

Yet Southeast Asian manufacturers are now struggling with Chinese overcapacity. — Angelica Ang, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2026

As the financial press dials up estimates of total investment in data centers—from hundreds of billions to lately several trillion dollars—the fear of compute overcapacity, low or negative returns, and a recession escalates. — Harvard Business Review, 11 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overcapacity

• audacity
• capacity
• fugacity
• loquacity
• mendacity
• opacity
• rapacity
• sagacity
• tenacity
• veracity
• vivacity
• voracity