supererogation

British  

/ ˌsuːpərˌɛrəˈɡeɪʃən /

noun

1. the performance of work in excess of that required

2. RC Church supererogatory prayers, devotions, etc

---

Explanation

Supererogation is a fancy way of saying "doing more than you're expected or obligated to." If your school requires that all students perform ten hours of community service, but you volunteer at the soup kitchen for twenty hours, that's supererogation. The Late Latin supererogatio means "a payment in addition," from super, "above or over" and erogare, "pay out." In English, this word was originally used in a religious context, for good works that go beyond what God requires. Today, supererogation typically describes an ethical or religious decision to act beyond what's required for being a good person: "Donating twenty percent of their income to charity is an act of supererogation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

supererogation

For any organization to have notified him of his nomination would have been supererogation.

From Time Magazine Archive

It were no less than supererogation to adduce evidences of the romantic spirit of the age of Shakespeare.

From A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance With special reference to the influence of Italy in the formation and development of modern classicism by Spingarn, Joel Elias

Here comes in Hermas’s doctrine of works of supererogation, in fulfilment of counsels of perfection, on lines already seen in Did. vi.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various

This, to speak of it forbearingly, may be safely catalogued among the works of supererogation.

From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old

Every man feels that he is bigger than his job, and he is all the time doing what theologians call 'works of supererogation.'

From Atlantic Classics, Second Series by Addams, Jane

Related Words

• exuberance
• glut
• overkill
• surplus
• waste