overspecify
English edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌoʊvɚˈspɛsɪˌfaɪ/
Verb edit
overspecify (third-person singular simple present overspecifies, present participle overspecifying, simple past and past participle overspecified)
- To specify in excessive detail.
- The customer overspecified the requirements and now we're contractually required to build it this way. Does he think he's an engineer?
- 1949, “Sponge Rubber”, in Walter E. Burton, editor, Engineering with Rubber, 1st edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, page 389:
- Manufacturers of sponge-rubber products have noted a tendency for designers and other users to overspecify.
- 1975, John Whittet, “We Need NEOCS”, in All Hands, number 698, page 50:
- First, the study group discovered a tendency in the current system to overspecify a billet. For example, to write a billet for a laboratory technician, one could specify rate and rating, as an HM1, one could specify E-6 and NEC-8506, or one could specify both. Obviously, this sort of procedure creates distribution problems which could compound.
- To specify excessive capability.
- As usual the customer overspecified the requirements, it's like asking for a car that seats 20 and fits in a compact car's parking space.
- 1991 April 1, Gene P. Carlson, “NFPA 1903: Mobile Water Supply Apparatus”, in Fire Engineering[1]:
- Design your mobile water supply apparatus around the chassis that you intend to use. Don’t overspecify or underspecify the unit.
- To provide redundant or inconsistent information.
- An overspecified truth table contains at least one decision that will never be executed because it is already specified in a previous decision...
- A noun phrase is overspecified when it is used in a context where a pronoun would have been unambiguous.
Antonyms edit
- (antonym(s) of "specify in excessive detail"): underspecify