superfluity

American  

[soo-per-floo-i-tee] / ˌsu pərˈflu ɪ ti /

noun

superfluities plural

1. the state of being superfluous.

2. a superabundant or excessive amount.

3. something superfluous, as a luxury.

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superfluity British  

/ ˌsuːpəˈfluːɪtɪ /

noun

1. the condition of being superfluous

2. a quantity or thing that is in excess of what is needed

3. a thing that is not needed

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• superfluities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of superfluity

1350–1400; Middle English superfluite < Old French < Latin superfluitās. See superfluous, -ity

Explanation

A superfluity is an excess or abundance. When you encounter superfluity, there's too much of something. When something is superfluous, it's unnecessary or redundant: there's already enough of it. Likewise, superfluity is too much of something. If your friend is a shopoholic and spends all of her time at the mall, you probably encounter superfluity in her closet — since she has more clothes than she will ever wear. The Latin root word is superfluus, which is used figuratively to mean "unnecessary," but is literally "overflowing."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

superfluity superfluities

Building on her doctoral research on homeschooling in Los Angeles County, Ms. Lane is careful to note the limits of existing studies and the superfluity of misinformation surrounding her topic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

That tiny bit of superfluity is part of brunch’s appeal.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

Alongside the Spanish colonial homes, the scene is a picturesque look into wealth, opulence and superfluity that only a select few Angelenos can afford.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2025

With “Meal Ticket,” the Coens drive to ironic extremes a notion that John Ford placed at the center of several movies: the impotence and superfluity of cultural refinement in the raw and rugged West.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 14, 2018

Mrs. Strong, be it understood, regarded any kind of fitting garment as a foolish superfluity.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Child-Villiers, Margaret Elizabeth Leigh

And Kuo’s sluggish direction, alongside the superfluities of Shekar’s script and the cast’s aerobic attempts to breathe life into inconsequential characters and static scenes, makes the two-hour show feel interminable.

From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2020

But now it feels more like a costly necessity, one whose exorbitant price tag is thinly justified by superfluities like face recognition, wireless charging, and a snazzier camera.

From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2019

A good novel is art’s closest equivalent to a human being—by nature a concoction of surprises, contradictions, and superfluities.

From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2015

Of course, I didn’t bother with superfluities like gold pieces or twenty-sided dice, but I did think upon the same factors.

From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2012

Not of course in the abundant East Prussian way, the way of generous curves and of what he now began to think were after all superfluities, but with delicacy and restraint.

From The Pastor's Wife by Arnim, Elizabeth von