overconfidence

noun

over·​con·​fi·​dence ˌō-vər-ˈkän-fə-dən(t)s 

-ˌden(t)s

: an excess of confidence (as in one's abilities or judgment) : confidence that is not justified

warned against overconfidence when investing

People tend to overestimate their skills behind the wheel and underestimate the skills of the boobs and psychopaths driving around them, a phenomenon that psychologists call "optimism bias" and the rest of us simply call delusional overconfidence.

—David H. Freedman

Examples of overconfidence in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This overconfidence manifests in workplace behavior. —Tarun Galagali, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025

If professors or software tools look for tone uniformity or overconfidence as signs of AI authorship, a student could bypass those markers simply by prompting ChatGPT to mimic the imperfections of human writing. —Chris Reed, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025

Pimco similarly believes a balanced, diversified allocation is one of the simplest ways to overcome behavioral biases, such as recency, overconfidence or fear and greed. —Michelle Fox, CNBC, 1 Aug. 2025

Tellis valuably points to gaps between India’s ambitions and its capabilities and the risks of overconfidence in New Delhi. —Nirupama Rao, Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1622, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overconfidence

• confidence