Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Being beyond what is required or sufficient.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- More than is wanted or sufficient; unnecessary from being in excess of what is needed; excessive; redundant; needless: as, a composition abounding with superfluous words.
- Supplied with superfluities; having somewhat beyond necessaries.
- Doing more than what is called for; supererogatory.
- Excessive.
- In music, of intervals, augmented. Synonyms Excessive, useless, needless.
Wiktionary
- adj. In excess of what is required or sufficient.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being
- adj. more than is needed, desired, or required
Etymologies
- From Latin superfluus ("superfluous"), from superfluō ("overflow"), from super ("above, over") + fluō ("flow"). Compare mellifluous and fluid, also from Latin. Literally corresponds to overflow, which is from Germanic, rather than Latin. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French superflueux, from Latin superfluus, from superfluere, to overflow : super-, super- + fluere, to flow; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I think a good deal of what you call superfluous condolence would come under the head of superfluous criticism.”
“But an interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause that gives Congress virtually unlimited power and renders most of the rest of Article I superfluous is surely “improper” if anything is.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Charles Fried on the Constitutionality of the Health Care Mandate
“If he wishes to assert a dual common source (both God and Q) then that's his prerogative but I would cite this as superfluous from a scriptural perspective.”
“Not really an option" is your position, meaning a discussion of historical evidence is "superfluous from a scriptural perspective".”
“God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. ”
“Those who are not bored are merely lost in superfluous activity: fashion, lifestyle, TV, drink, drugs, technology, et cetera – the usual things we use to pass the time.”
“Who better to be your writing inspiration than the man who can bring out the super in superfluous?”
“Tweaking them is superfluous from the standpoint of mother nature.”
“The argument misses that it is not the way the words are read that renders the phrase superfluous but simply changing technology.”
“The superfluous is the very thing we work and long for.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘superfluous’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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SAT Words
Know these common SAT words
taciturn, docile, expedient, superfluous, eclectic, impromptu, dogmatic, invidious, rhetoric, tenacious, pretentious, parsimony and 14 more...
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PART 2: 100 Word You Should Know To B...
Here are 40 advanced English words which should you be able to use them in a sentence will impress even educated native speakers! Perfect if you want to impress the examiner in examinations like: I...
jubilant, knell, lithe, lurid, maverick, maxim, meticulous, modicum, morose, myriad, nadir, nominal and 28 more...
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phil vocab 3
genocide, superfluous, warfare, indissoluble, sentient, confound, pernicious, dispose, render, amiable, paradox, puritanical and 36 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Transcendentalism (Thoreau)
A list of words from our Thoreau readings.
rudiment, sentinel, supernumerary, servitor, Memnon, somnolence, simplify, Aurora, vigor, simplicity, Veda, Saint Vitus and 43 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Magoosh GRE
its a list of words borrowed from Magoosh GRE blog ,an indispensable resource for GRE test takers.
inimitable, exiguity, myriad, cornucopia, surfeit, glut, deluge, opaque, pellucid, grandiloquent, turgid, gadfly and 106 more...
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Out of Book Words
commiserate, equanimity, dulcet, cursory, diffident, profligate, egregious, precocious, dissemble, aggregate, efficacy, ingenuous and 100 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for superfluous.
wanderingstan I was trying to figure the meaning of the German word "überflüssig", which I knew had to be some combination of "super" (über) and "fluid-like" (flüssig). Super-fluid, superfluous! Nov 2, 2011
jmjarmstrong JM reckons a second chimney is superfluous. Jun 19, 2011
gcastro •It seems superfluous to mention it, but don't go swimming if you've been drinking alcohol.
www.dictionary.com Oct 1, 2010