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
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
Explanation
When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous. Superfluous (soo-PER-floo-uhs) means "more than required." Use it when pointing out something that could be removed without detracting from the quality of something: "For a climb over a glacier, the very thickest shoes are absolutely necessary; beyond these, all else seems superfluous to me," wrote the adventurer Charles Stoddard in 1899. The word comes from Latin and literally means "overflowing": super ("over") + fluere ("to flow"). So you can think of a superfluous addition as flowing over the boundaries of what's needed.
Vocabulary lists containing superfluous
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Do-Over: Words For Groundhog Day
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Grade 11, List 1
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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.
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
Italians mastered how to create a food culture built around comfort and family without being superfluous.
From Salon • Jan. 24, 2026
That final scene seems superfluous, but as for the rest of the movie: Its audacious energy is more apparent than ever.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
The company has eliminated unpopular wing sauces, 86’d a superfluous fried-chicken batter, and thinned out the burger menu—all in service of making the kitchen a more simple place to work.
From Slate • Aug. 11, 2025
Ash couldn’t answer, because her grief and anger now seemed so superfluous in comparison to the perfection of this fairy woman, who took her hand to lead her into the dancing circle.
From "Ash" by Malinda Lo
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.
