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Glite Dictionary
🎟️ To request too many 💻 To overload resources
to oversubscribe

to oversubscribe

7.0
To give more users access than a system can handle, expecting not all will use it at once
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərsəˈskraɪb/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sobresuscribir
  • The company decided to oversubscribe its servers to maximize efficiency during off-peak hours.

Examples

  • Internet service providers often oversubscribe bandwidth, assuming not all customers will use maximum speed at once.

  • If you oversubscribe resources, performance may drop when too many users are active simultaneously.

  • Don't oversubscribe to too many platforms!

  • They oversubscribed to the service last year.

  • The company decided to oversubscribe its servers, anticipating that not all users would access the service simultaneously.

  • In many cloud services, providers oversubscribe their resources to maximize efficiency, knowing that not every user will be active at the same time.

  • By choosing to oversubscribe the internet plan, they hoped that occasional downtimes would not affect their users significantly.

Synonyms

to overcommit
vsto oversubscribe
  • Specialized
7.4

Giving more memory or storage than is really available because not all users use it at once

assign more users or capacity to a service expecting some will not use it

How Overloaded

to overload
93 3.7
to oversubscribe
  • Specialized
7.0
to overcommit
  • Specialized
7.4
to allocate
92 4.5

Surface Forms

oversubscribe infinitive
oversubscribed past
oversubscribed past participle
oversubscribing present participle
oversubscribes third person singular

Morphology

oversubscribe = subscribe (transparent) = over + subscribe

The formation uses the productive prefix 'over-' (excess) applied to 'subscribe'; the computing/resource-allocation sense is a domain extension but follows the same 'excess' logic.

Etymology

Oversubscribe combines over- ('too many') and subscribe ('to sign up' or 'to promise a spot'). In services and networks it means giving out more places or access than can be used at the same time, because you expect not everyone will use them together.