overreliance

noun

over·​re·​li·​ance ˌō-vər-ri-ˈlī-ən(t)s 

: the act or state of relying on something or someone too much : excessive reliance

One of my top priorities next year is to have an energy policy that begins to address all facets of our overreliance on fossil fuels.

—Barack Obama

I shy away from prescribing sleeping pills … to avoid overreliance on them.

—Andrew Weil

Examples of overreliance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This results in shallow, undifferentiated offerings and signals a lack of strategic foresight and an overreliance on chasing current trends. —Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025

With 54 countries, Africa offers a diversity that, if taken seriously, can help US universities avoid the concentration risk that has come from overreliance on students from India and China. —Lydiah Kemunto Bosire, semafor.com, 16 June 2025

Additionally, overreliance on automation risks diminishing human judgment, particularly in complex social contexts where nuance and empathy remain critical. —Darshan Tiwari, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025

During the end of the Biden administration, the U.S. Space Force published a new strategy that ordered policy makers to avoid overreliance on any single company. —Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 6 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overreliance

• appliance
• compliance
• defiance
• reliance
• geoscience
• neuroscience
• noncompliance
• pseudoscience
• science