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

Chinese prowess in building entire supply chains has spurred the United States and Europe to talk of reindustrialization to avoid any overreliance on Beijing. —Shaoyu Yuan, The Conversation, 5 Nov. 2025

There remains an overreliance on Bowen to be the saviour. —Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 31 Oct. 2025

The risks of solar geoengineering overreliance In short, the Columbia University team warns of the risks of overrelying on solar geoengineering as a solution to the climate crisis. —Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 30 Oct. 2025

Meanwhile, 42 percent hated their overreliance on artificial intelligence, and 49 percent were critical of the younger age group’s oversharing on social media. —Suzanne Blake, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for overreliance

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