superfluity

American  

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

noun

plural

superfluities

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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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

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

But, a little paradoxically, the collection is most valuable when it’s proving its own superfluity: The best material is what made it onto the completed record.

From New York Times • Oct. 3, 2022

The sequel serves up plenty for specialists to chew on, not least a Jack Nicholson look-alike—insofar as that’s possible—behind the hotel bar, yet these semi-reconstructions betray an odd sense of superfluity and strain.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 8, 2019

Under low light, these faded, wispy clippings from the cutting-room floor suggest a superfluity of ideas that might have supplied a lifetime of inspiration to other artists.

From Washington Post • Oct. 18, 2019

The former, consequently, would be glad to dispose of, and the latter to purchase, a part of this superfluity.

From An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Garnier, Germain