Surplusage
noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A surplus; a superabundance. archaic, countable, uncountable
"If then thee list my offred grace to vse, / Take what thou please of all this surplusage; / If thee list not, leaue haue thou to refuse […]"
- 2 a quantity much larger than is needed wordnet
- 3 Matter in pleading which is not necessary or relevant to the case, and may be rejected. countable, uncountable
- 4 A greater disbursement than the charge of the accountant amounts to. countable, uncountable
"1802–1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature one third-part of the surplusage of the estate of any person dying intetate, hall be distributed to his widow,and the reidue amongt his children by equal portions"
Example
More examples"If then thee list my offred grace to vse, / Take what thou please of all this surplusage; / If thee list not, leaue haue thou to refuse […]"
Etymology
From Medieval Latin surplusagium, from surplus.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.