surfeit

[sur-fit]

noun

1. excess; an excessive amount.

   a surfeit of speechmaking.

   Synonyms: superfluity, superabundance
   Antonyms: lack

2. excess or overindulgence in eating or drinking.

3. an uncomfortably full or crapulous feeling due to excessive eating or drinking.

4. general disgust caused by excess or satiety.

verb (used with object)

1. to bring to a state of surfeit by excess of food or drink.

   Synonyms: gorge, stuff

2. to supply with anything to excess or satiety; satiate.

   Synonyms: fill, gorge, stuff

verb (used without object)

1. to eat or drink to excess.

2. to suffer from the effects of overindulgence in eating or drinking.

3. to indulge to excess in anything.

surfeit

/ ˈsɜːfɪt /

noun

1. (usually foll by of) an excessive or immoderate amount

2. overindulgence, esp in eating or drinking

3. disgust, nausea, etc, caused by such overindulgence

verb

1. (tr) to supply or feed excessively; satiate

2. archaic,  (intr) to eat, drink, or be supplied to excess

3. obsolete,  (intr) to feel uncomfortable as a consequence of overindulgence

Other Word Forms

• unsurfeited adjective
• unsurfeiting adjective
• surfeiter noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surfeit¹

1250–1300; (noun) Middle English sorfete, surfait < Middle French surfait, surfet (noun use of past participle of surfaire to overdo), equivalent to sur- sur- ¹ + fait < Latin factus, past participle of facere to do ( fact ); (v.) sorfeten, derivative of the noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surfeit¹

C13: from French surfait, from surfaire to overdo, from _sur- ¹ + faire, from Latin facere to do

Example Sentences

The surfeit of description can scarcely conceal the deficit of insight.

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Once markets adjusted to the shock, U.S. gas inventories flipped into a surfeit that depressed prices.

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Colleges are graduating a surfeit of young people who lack hard or even soft skills.

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The Victorians worried about a “world denuded of larger significance,” but we suffer from both material surfeit and spiritual abundance, and are captive to a surplus of competing and increasingly angry gods.

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Crude prices have fallen from $75 a barrel a year ago, and a projected surfeit next year could send them lower.

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Related Words

• glut 
• plethora 
• profusion