adjective
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exceeding what is sufficient or required
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not necessary or relevant; uncalled-for
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obsolete extravagant in expenditure or oversupplied with possessions
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of superfluous
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin superfluus, from super- super- + flu- (stem of fluere “to flow”) + -us -ous
Explanation
When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous. Superfluous (soo-PER-floo-uhs) means "more than required." Use it when pointing out something that could be removed without detracting from the quality of something: "For a climb over a glacier, the very thickest shoes are absolutely necessary; beyond these, all else seems superfluous to me," wrote the adventurer Charles Stoddard in 1899. The word comes from Latin and literally means "overflowing": super ("over") + fluere ("to flow"). So you can think of a superfluous addition as flowing over the boundaries of what's needed.
Vocabulary lists containing superfluous
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Do-Over: Words For Groundhog Day
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Grade 11, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Another wait ensued: Superfluous as it seemed, the coroner conducted an autopsy.
From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2018
Superfluous, perhaps, but still necessary: Mr. Obama has spoken more than a dozen times after mass shootings.
From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2016
Benjamin Franklin once quipped that the Vice President should be addressed as “your Superfluous Excellency.”
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2016
The thinking here is largely consequentialist: Superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering are inherently wasteful.
From Slate • Nov. 13, 2012
Superfluous and ill-placed buds may be rubbed off, at any time; and no buds, pushing out after Midsummer, should be spared.
From A Treatise on Domestic Economy For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School by Beecher, Catharine Esther
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
