supererogation

British  

/ ˌsuːpərˌɛrəˈɡeɪʃən /

noun

1. the performance of work in excess of that required

2. RC Church supererogatory prayers, devotions, etc

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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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

“An effort to corrupt Billy Sunday,” to use a paraphrase, “would be a work of supererogation, besides being immoral.”

From The Invisible Censor by Hackett, Francis

Races, you see, were not in a class with graduations; they were optional, works of supererogation.

From The Whirligig of Time by Williams, Wayland Wells

It is perhaps a work of supererogation for me after the lapse of three and a half centuries to endorse and verify the accuracy of that word picture of the buffalo.

From Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences by Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska

Peeping cautiously through the doorway he saw Miss Mercy alone in the bar, perfunctorily at work upon a task of supererogation which the paternal wisdom had set her.

From A Poached Peerage by Magnay, William

Related Words

• exuberance
• glut
• overkill
• surplus
• waste