Superfluous

//suːˈpɜːflu.əs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    In excess of what is required or sufficient.

    "With a full rain suit, carrying an umbrella may be superfluous."

Adjective
  1. 1
    more than is needed, desired, or required wordnet
  2. 2
    serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
excessiveexpletivegratuitousneedlesssuperabundantsupererogatory

Example

More examples

"There was always too much superfluous writing in his essays."

Etymology

From Middle English superfluous, from Latin superfluus (“superfluous”), 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.

Related phrases

superfluous intervalsuperfluous man

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.