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Glite Dictionary
⏰ To promise too much 💾 To allocate too much
to overcommit

to overcommit

7.4
Giving more memory or storage than is really available because not all users use it at once
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərkəˈmɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sobrecargar
  • The software allows users to overcommit memory, assuming not all allocated space will be used at once.

Examples

  • By interposing only on vIOMMU operations, it is possible to achieve near-native I/O performance while preserving the hypervisor's ability to manage, remap, and overcommit memory.

    Academic text (2012)

  • During the project, we can easily overcommit our resources if we don't monitor usage closely.

  • She learned the hard way that it is unwise to overcommit to multiple tasks without checking her schedule.

Synonyms

to overfill
vsto overcommit
3 3.9

To put too much into something so it spills out

allocates extra capacity planning that not all of it will be used
to oversubscribe
vsto overcommit
  • Specialized
7.0

To give more users access than a system can handle, expecting not all will use it at once

allocates more resource capacity expecting not all will be used

How Allocated

to overcommit
  • Specialized
7.4
to allocate
92 4.5

Surface Forms

overcommit infinitive
overcommitted past
overcommitted past participle
overcommitting present participle
overcommits third person singular

Morphology

overcommit = commit (semi-transparent) = over + commit

Formally built by productive prefixation (over- + commit), but the technical computing sense uses 'commit' in a specialized way (allocate/reserve resources), which may be unfamiliar to general learners.

Etymology

Overcommit comes from the parts over- meaning 'too much' and commit meaning 'to promise' or 'to set aside'. So in computers, to overcommit memory is to 'promise' more memory than you really have, hoping not all programs will need it at the same time.