Overprovision

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. The act or condition of providing more than is necessary or required
2. A situation where resources or goods are distributed or made available in quantities beyond what is needed
3. The surplus distribution or availability of something exceeding demand or necessity

Etymology: "Overprovision" is a plain compound: the prefix "over-", meaning excess or too much, attached to "provision," a word that has been in English since the Middle Ages and originally meant the act of preparing or supplying things in advance. Put together, the verb means to supply more than is needed or wanted, and the noun names the result of doing so. The interest lies in the older half. "Provision" comes from the Latin "providere," to foresee, combining "pro-" (before) with "videre" (to see), so its first sense was foresight, and only later did it come to mean the stores that foresight secures. The prefix "over-" is an ancient native English element, so this word joins two very different strands of the language: a Latin-derived idea of planning ahead, and a Germanic prefix that simply adds excess.

Synonyms: oversupply, excess supply, overallocation

Antonyms: underprovision, undersupply