adjective
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exceeding what is sufficient or required
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not necessary or relevant; uncalled-for
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obsolete extravagant in expenditure or oversupplied with possessions
Other Word Forms
- superfluously adverb
- superfluousness noun
- unsuperfluous adjective
- unsuperfluously adverb
- unsuperfluousness noun
Etymology
Origin of superfluous
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin superfluus, from super- super- + flu- (stem of fluere “to flow”) + -us -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A best picture Oscar for “Sinners” is damned near superfluous.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026
Once again, artificial intelligence was at the center of the selloff, amid worries that software would be made superfluous by Anthropic’s Claude applications.
From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026
After a century’s worth of Dracula pictures, the exposition seems a bit superfluous, and Mr. Waltz, a two-time Oscar winner, can’t do much with his dialogue, which sounds like guidance from “Vampire Stalking for Dummies.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
They flesh out the narrative just slightly enough not to feel entirely superfluous.
From Salon • Jan. 11, 2026
The cosmetics that had seemed superfluous were necessary now, not to improve her but to define her somehow.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
