surplus

American  

[sur-pluhs, -pluhs] / ˈsɜr plʌs, -pləs /

noun

• surpluses
  plural

1. 

   something that remains above what is used or needed.

   Synonyms:

   superabundance

2. an amount, quantity, etc., greater than needed.

3. agricultural produce or a quantity of food grown by a nation or area in excess of its needs, especially such a quantity of food purchased and stored by a governmental program of guaranteeing farmers a specific price for certain crops.

4. Accounting.

   1. the excess of assets over liabilities accumulated throughout the existence of a business, excepting assets against which stock certificates have been issued; excess of net worth over capital-stock value.

   2. an amount of assets in excess of what is requisite to meet liabilities.

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adjective

1. being a surplus; being in excess of what is required.

   surplus wheat.

verb (used with object)

surplussed, surplused, surplussing, surplusing

1. to treat as surplus; sell off; retire.

   The government surplussed some of its desert lands.

surplus British  

/ ˈsɜːpləs /

noun

1. a quantity or amount in excess of what is required

2. accounting

   1. an excess of total assets over total liabilities

   2. an excess of actual net assets over the nominal value of capital stock

   3. an excess of revenues over expenditures during a certain period of time

3. economics

   1. an excess of government revenues over expenditures during a certain financial year

   2. an excess of receipts over payments on the balance of payments

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adjective

1. being in excess; extra

surplus Cultural  

1. An unsold quantity of a good resulting from a lack of equilibrium in a market. For example, if a price is artificially high, sellers will bring more goods to the market than buyers will be willing to buy. (Compare shortage.)

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Synonym Usage

See remainder.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• surpluses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of surplus

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Old French surplus, s(o)urplus, from Medieval Latin superplūs, equivalent to super- preposition and prefix + plūs neuter noun; see origin at super-, plus

Explanation

A surplus is something extra or left over. If your tree produces more apples than you can eat, you can make applesauce with the surplus of apples. The army surplus store sells old or out-of-date clothing and equipment that the military doesn't need. If you earn more money than you spend, then you have a surplus of cash. The word surplus has familiar parts: sur- is a shortened form of super, meaning "extra" or "additional," and plus just means "more."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

surplus surpluses surplused

The Newsom administration predicted a historic surplus of nearly $100 billion the next year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Charity FoodCycle said its programme turns surplus supermarket produce into free meals and groceries for families, helping to cut waste while easing household costs.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Kim estimates the surplus at $42.70 billion in September, widening from the prior month’s revised $34.79 billion and surpassing the previous record of $35.91 billion set in June.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Someone can live in a country with an enormous agricultural surplus and still have an empty refrigerator or live in a food desert.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

It was an old large galvanized pot she had picked up at an army surplus store in Santa Maria.

From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez

But soaring surpluses with several key trading partners has also become a political issue, as officials overseas argue that waves of Chinese imports are crowding out local competition.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

“In particular, countries with excessive and persistent external surpluses should remove distortions that constrain domestic consumption and that result in an overreliance on exports for growth,” the Treasury statement said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The country has now racked up trade surpluses three months running as exports have rebounded following a weak start to the year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

The Congressional Budget Office in January 2001 predicted such large future budget surpluses that it said all redeemable U.S. government debt could be paid off within five years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

These forfeited food surpluses fuelled politics, wars, art and philosophy.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

The city has been prioritizing the use of surplused land for “low-income housing” for several years.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2023

Next he built a telecom infrastructure company — MK Global — that ”secured the rights to a $1 billion in equipment surplused in the wake of the dot-com crash.”

From Forbes ● Sep. 19, 2011

He couldn't look like that surplused boy, though.

From Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley by Belle Kanaris Maniates

Consequently the neighborhood was notified that a sacred concert by a "surplused choir" composed of members of the Jenkins household, assisted by a few of their schoolmates, would be given a week from Wednesday night.

From Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley by Belle Kanaris Maniates

Related Words

• excess
• leftover
• unused