DEFINITIONS
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superfluous

[ soo-pur-floo-uhs ]
/ sʊˈpɜr flu əs /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR superfluous ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.
unnecessary or needless.
Obsolete. possessing or spending more than enough or necessary; extravagant.

Words related to superfluous

balance, by-product, embarrassment, enough, exorbitance, extravagance, extravagancy, exuberance, fat, glut, inundation, lavishness, leavings, leftover, overabundance, overflow, overload, overmuch, overrun, oversupply

Words nearby superfluous

superfine, superfix, superfluid, superfluidity, superfluity, superfluous, superfood, superfortress, superfund, superfuse, supergalaxy

Origin of superfluous

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin superfluus, equivalent to super- super- + flu- (stem of fluere to flow) + -us -ous

OTHER WORDS FROM superfluous

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for superfluousness

  • Sister Maria Joseph, recognising with trembling her superfluousness, withdrew.

    Mount Music|E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross

  • These Associations demonstrate the superfluousness of trade in a differently organized society.

    Woman under socialism|August Bebel

  • But she enjoyed the consciousness of knowing more than he did; she even forgave him his superfluousness.

    Mount Music|E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross

  • What superfluousness, indeed, could there be in intelligence, unless its conceptions resemble imperfect productions?

    Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3|Plotinos (Plotinus)

British Dictionary definitions for superfluousness

superfluous
/ (suːˈpɜːflʊəs) /

adjective

exceeding what is sufficient or required
not necessary or relevant; uncalled-for
obsolete extravagant in expenditure or oversupplied with possessions

Derived forms of superfluous

superfluously, adverbsuperfluousness, noun

Word Origin for superfluous

C15: from Latin superfluus overflowing, from super- + fluere to flow
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