His essay gave only a superficial analysis of the problem, so it was a real surprise to him when he got the highest grade in the class.
Source: tatoeba (1952)
Superficial
//ˌsuː.pəˈfɪʃ.əl//
Synonyms for "superficial" (256 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (52)
Strong matches (76)
elephantineemptyepidermalepidermicetiolatedexomorphicexpeditiousexteriorexternalextrinsicfacilefadefatuousfeatherbrainedfestinatefeverishfewflashyflatflatulent
Show 53 more words
flightyflimsyflippantfluffyflyingfoolishfootlingformalformalistformalisticformularyfourth-dimensionalfribblefribblingfringefrivolousfrothyfuriousfutilegeneralglibhalf assedhalf bakedhalf cockedhalf-assedhalf-bakedhalf-cockedhastyheavyho humho-humhollowhurriedidleimmatureimmediateimpersonalinaneinconsequentialinconsiderableindiscriminateinexcitableinsipidinstantinsubstantialjejuneknee deepknee-deeplast minutelast-minuteleadenlegalisticlifeless
Related words (128)
lightlittlelowlow spiritedlow-spiritedmeagermeaninglessminiaturenegligibleno great shakesnoddingnominalnot deepnugaciousnugatoryoffhandon the spoton the surfaceopenostensible
Show 98 more words
otioseoutouteroutermostoutlyingoutmostoutsideoutstandingoutwardoutward-facingpalepallidpassingpedanticpedestrianperipheralpettypicayunepicayunishploddingpointlesspokyponderouspretentiouspromptproportionalpublicquickroundaboutsciolisticshallow-headedshallow-mindedshallow-patedshallow-rootedshallow-wittedshoalshortsillysketchyskin deepskin-deepslap-bangslapdashslenderslickslightslowsmallsmatteringsnapsolemnsophomoricsoundingspacespace timespace-timespatialspatiotemporalspeciousspeedysphericalspiritlessstereoscopicsterilestiffstodgystuffystylizedsurfacesurficialswifttastelesstediousthinthree dimensionalthree-dimensionaltinytokentopicaltrendytriflingtritetrivialtwo-dimensionaluncriticalunimportantunlivelyunprofoundurgentvacuityvacuousvainvapidvisiblevolatilevolumetricwindywooden
Adjective(3 words)
Adjective(7 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Antonyms
4 entriesSynonyms
2 entriesRelated terms
3 entriesderived
11 entriesrelated to
9 entriessimilar
28 entriesShowing 16 of 28 words.
Translations
83 translations across 36 languages.
Ancient Greek
2 entries- ἐπιπόλαιος adj (existing or located on the surface)
- ἐπιπόλαιος adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Arabic
2 entries- سَطْحِيّ adj (existing or located on the surface)
- سَطْحِيّ adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Bengali
1 entries- উদাসীন adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Bulgarian
1 entries- повърхностен adj (existing or located on the surface)
Catalan
2 entries- superficial adj (existing or located on the surface)
- superficial adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Chinese Mandarin
4 entries- 淺 /浅 adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- 淺層 /浅层 adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- 膚淺 /肤浅 adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- 表面的 adj (existing or located on the surface)
Czech
1 entries- povrchní adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Danish
1 entries- overfladisk adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Dutch
1 entries- oppervlakkig adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Esperanto
2 entries- malprofunda adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- supraĵa adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Estonian
1 entries- pinnapealne adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Finnish
4 entries- kaksiulotteinen adj (two-dimensional, drawn on a flat surface)
- näennäinen adj (appearing to be true)
- pinnallinen adj (existing or located on the surface)
- pinnallinen adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
French
1 entries- superficiel adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Georgian
2 entries- ზედაპირული adj (existing or located on the surface)
- ზედაპირული adj (lacking understanding or substance)
German
4 entries- oberflächlich adj (existing or located on the surface)
- oberflächlich adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- oberflächlich adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- äußerlich adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
Greek
4 entries- αβαθής adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- επιφανειακός adj (existing or located on the surface)
- επιφανειακός adj (not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent)
- ρηχός adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Hebrew
2 entries- שִׁטְחִי adj (existing or located on the surface)
- שִׁטְחִי adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Hindi
3 entries- सतही adj (existing or located on the surface)
- सतही adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- सतही adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Hungarian
4 entries- felszínes adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- felszíni adj (existing or located on the surface)
- felületes adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- felületi adj (existing or located on the surface)
Icelandic
1 entries- yfirborðskenndur adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Italian
2 entries- superficiale adj (existing or located on the surface)
- superficiale adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Latin
1 entries- superficiālis adj (existing or located on the surface)
Lithuanian
4 entries- paviršinis adj (existing or located on the surface)
- paviršutiniškas adj (not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent)
- paviršutiniškas adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- preliminarus adj (not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent)
Māori
3 entries- kirimoko adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- mōhio ngutu adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- ākahu adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
Norwegian Bokmål
3 entries- overfladisk adj (existing or located on the surface)
- overfladisk adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- overfladisk adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Polish
2 entries- powierzchniowy adj (existing or located on the surface)
- powierzchowny adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Portuguese
3 entries- superficial adj (existing or located on the surface)
- superficial adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- superficial adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Romanian
1 entries- superficial adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Russian
4 entries- неглубо́кий adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- пове́рхностный adj (existing or located on the surface)
- пове́рхностный adj (on or immediately beneath the skin)
- пове́рхностный adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Scottish Gaelic
1 entries- faoin adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Spanish
2 entries- superficial adj (existing or located on the surface)
- superficial adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Swedish
1 entries- ytlig adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Turkish
3 entries- yüzeysel adj (existing or located on the surface)
- yüzeysel adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- üstünkörü adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Ukrainian
1 entries- поверхне́вий adj (existing or located on the surface)
Yiddish
2 entries- אויבנאויפֿיק adj (existing or located on the surface)
- אויבנאויפֿיק adj (lacking understanding or substance)
Zazaki
2 entries- payaser adj (lacking understanding or substance)
- sereyran adj (existing or located on the surface)
Sample sentences
17 total sentences available.
A perfect knowledge of a few writers and a few subjects is more valuable than a superficial one of a great many.
Source: tatoeba (267913)
He has only a superficial knowledge of the subject.
Source: tatoeba (290474)
He has only a superficial knowledge of the matter.
Source: tatoeba (290930)
Showing 4 of 17 available sentences.
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.