superfluous
/suːˈpɜːflu.əs//suˈpɝflu.əs/
superfluous adjective: in excess of what is required or sufficient.
Adjective
superfluous (comparative more superfluous, superlative most superfluous)
- In excess of what is required or sufficient.
- With a full rain suit, carrying an umbrella may be superfluous.
- Then I began to play in timid fashion, venturing only twenty or thirty gulden at a time. Meanwhile, I observed and took notes. It seemed to me that calculation was superfluous, and by no means possessed of the importance which certain other players attached to it, even though they sat with ruled...1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter IV, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(1867)/IV)
- Synonyms:
- de trop, dispensible, excessive, excrescent, extra, extraneous, extravagant, pleonastic, supernumerary, surplus
superfluous meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
superfluous in Tamil
- தேவைக்கு மிகுதியான, தேவைக்கும் மிகுதியான, மிகையான, தேவைக்கு மிஞ்சிய, மீமிகை, மீமிகையான
superfluous in Urdu
- فالتو, فاضل, زائد
superfluous in Bengali
- প্রয়োজনের অতিরিক্ত, অনাবশ্যক
superfluous in Malayalam
- സമൃദ്ധിയിലാറാടിയ, കൊഴുപ്പാർന്ന, മോടികാട്ടുന്ന, ആവശ്യത്തിലധികമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- superfluous in Kannada
- ಅತ್ಯಧಿಕ, ಬೇಕಾದ್ದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾದ, ಪೆರ್ಚುಗೆ, ಪೆಚ್ಚುಗೆ
- superfluous in Odia
- ଅଧିକ adhika
- superfluous in Persian
- زیادی ziyâdi
- superfluous in Thai
- เกินความจำเป็น
- superfluous in Vietnamese
- dư thừa
Examples of superfluous in a sentence
- The clues were close to Ximenean standards, with just the occasional superfluous "to" or "a".
- It is perhaps superfluous to belabor the extent, cost and unpunishment of antitrust crime.
- There was a charged moment where words seemed superfluous.
Synonyms of superfluous
- de trop
- dispensible
- excessive
- excrescent
- extra
- extraneous
- extravagant
- pleonastic
- supernumerary
- surplus
3 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of superfluous
| comparative | more superfluous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most superfluous |
Origin of superfluous
From Middle English superfluous, from Latin superfluus (“superfluous”) + -ous, from superfluō (“overflow”), from super (“above, more than, over”) + fluō (“flow”). Compare mellifluous and fluid, also from Latin. Literally corresponds to overflow, which is from Germanic, rather than Latin.
Words formed from superfluous
Phrases with superfluous
Questions about superfluous
- What does superfluous mean?
- Superfluous means in excess of what is required or sufficient.
- What is superfluous in Tamil?
- Superfluous in Tamil is தேவைக்கு மிகுதியான, தேவைக்கும் மிகுதியான, மிகையான. See Superfluous meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is superfluous?
- Superfluous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce superfluous?
- Superfluous is pronounced /suːˈpɜːflu.əs/ (UK).
Words near superfluous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: superfluous (page history and authors); superfluous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); superfluous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); superfluous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); superfluous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); superfluous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଅଧିକ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-superfluous.ogg, en-us-superfluous.ogg, en-au-superfluous.ogg.
Cite this entry: “superfluous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/superfluous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.