superfluous
being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.
unnecessary or needless.
Obsolete. possessing or spending more than enough or necessary; extravagant.
Origin of superfluous
1Other words for superfluous
Other words from superfluous
- su·per·flu·ous·ly, adverb
- su·per·flu·ous·ness, noun
- un·su·per·flu·ous, adjective
- un·su·per·flu·ous·ly, adverb
- un·su·per·flu·ous·ness, noun
Words Nearby superfluous
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use superfluous in a sentence
For these picks, we weeded out the superfluous choices and pared down the selections to include options that we would wear all day, every day.
The best Apple Watch case to protect the computer on your wrist | Stan Horaczek | August 23, 2021 | Popular-ScienceSo if you don’t like superfluous side stories and characters, there’s less to love here.
Go big, but don’t go home with the best Nintendo Switch games when out and about | Billy Cadden | July 18, 2021 | Popular-Science“But sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary,” he wrote.
Supreme Court sides with high school cheerleader in free-speech dispute over profane Snapchat rant | Robert Barnes | June 23, 2021 | Washington PostMostly you don’t need to align, most folks taking part are superfluous and as accidental team-building exercises they are incredibly expensive in terms of human-hours.
In a speech from the Senate floor, he drew attention to taxpayer-funded research that he presented as unnecessary and superfluous.
The various dishonesties in Rand Paul’s cocaine-quail presentation | Philip Bump | May 28, 2021 | Washington Post
Which raises the question: If the idea of the gloriously superfluous disappears from nature, how does it take root in the mind?
(If Nel is to answer his own questions, the presence of the witness would seem superfluous).
Pistorius’s Cross-Examination Could Have Been Grounds for a Mistrial in a U.S. Court | James D. Zirin | May 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMysteriously, however, no one can describe how it works better—it appears to have redundant and even superfluous parts.
This is What Happens When You Teach Machines the Power of Natural Selection | James Barrat | February 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBorges adds: “He remarked that for a man so equipped, actual travel was superfluous.”
Is Dave Eggers’ ‘The Circle’ Our Generation’s ‘1984’? | Stefan Beck | October 2, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe device of reconstructing internal dialogues sometimes feels a bit forced or superfluous.
Seeking Reconciliation with a Terrorist: A Jewish Journey | Lisa Goldman | September 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTCousin George's position is such a happy one, that conversation is to him a thing superfluous.
Physiology of The Opera | John H. Swaby (AKA "Scrici")It is perhaps somewhat superfluous to say that the Russian Government at once adopted these balloons for war purposes.
Asbestos | Robert H. JonesIf all the world did not wag his way, so much the worse for cold-blooded mercenary superfluous beings.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonHaving thus divined the origin of the hero, I feel that any further indication of his character would be almost superfluous.
Though the memorandum is quite superfluous, it will often put me in mind of the creator.
Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2) | Edward Gibbon
British Dictionary definitions for superfluous
/ (suːˈpɜːflʊəs) /
exceeding what is sufficient or required
not necessary or relevant; uncalled-for
obsolete extravagant in expenditure or oversupplied with possessions
Origin of superfluous
1Derived forms of superfluous
- superfluously, adverb
- superfluousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse