Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Superfluous |
SuperfluousAdjective1. Serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words". 2. More than is needed, desired, or required; "trying to lose excess weight"; "found some extra change lying on the dresser"; "yet another book on heraldry might be thought redundant"; "skills made redundant by technological advance"; "sleeping in the spare room"; "supernumerary ornamentation"; "it was supererogatory of her to gloat"; "delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words"; "extra ribs as well as other supernumerary internal parts"; "surplus cheese distributed to the needy". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "superfluous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Superfluous \Su*per"flu*ous\, adjective. [Latin expression superfluus overflowing; super over, above fluere to flow. See Super-, and Fluent.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonyms: SuperfluousSynonyms: excess (adj), extra (adj), otiose (adj), pointless (adj), redundant (adj), spare (adj), supererogatory (adj), supernumerary (adj), surplus (adj), wasted (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inutility | Adjective: useless, inutile, inefficacious, futile, unavailing, bootless; inoperative; inadequate; (insufficient); inservient, unsubservient; inept, inefficient; (impotent); of no avail; (use); ineffectual; (failure); incompetent; (unskillful); " stale, flat and unprofitable"; superfluous; (redundant); dispensable; thrown away; (wasted); abortive; (immature). |
Redundancy | Superfluous, unnecessary, needless, supervacaneous, uncalled for, to spare, in excess; over and above; (remainder); de trop; adscititious; (additional); supernumerary; (reserve); on one's hands, spare, duplicate, supererogatory, expletive; un peu fort. |
Remainder | Adjective:remaining, left; left behind left over; residual, residuary; over, odd; unconsumed, sedimentary; surviving; net; exceeding, over and above; outlying, outstanding; cast off; superfluous; (redundant). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Superfluous |
| English words defined with "superfluous": Cloth paper, Colt's tooth ♦ Ductor ♦ electrolysis, elliptic, elliptical, embellishment, excess, Expletory, extra ♦ Parergy, Prolixious, pruned ♦ Recrement, redundance, redundancy, redundant ♦ simplification, spare, Squilgee, supererogatory, superfluously, supernumerary, Supervacaneous, surplus, Sweating room ♦ To burn daylight, Tritone ♦ Waste gate, Waste pipe. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "superfluous": After that, Appreciate highly, Ascend up ♦ But ♦ CHIEF, FISHERY DIVISION, comb capper ♦ file clean-up, file tidying ♦ HONEYCOMB DECAPPER ♦ Industrial Waste ♦ Look and see ♦ Off of, Opens up ♦ Pocket-handkerchief ♦ redundant, Rise up ♦ Seeming paradox, superfluous variable ♦ That. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "superfluous": Superfluence. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Clever | A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Two little vagrants : a superfluous husband. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Elias Canetti | Pessimists are not boring. Pessimists are right. Pessimists are superfluous. |
Elizabeth Gaskell | He had not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his bones, and leanness goes a great way towards gentility. |
Henry David Thoreau | Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul. |
Plutarch | Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny. |
Voltaire | The superfluous is very necessary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | We cannot deny his absolute right to give the superfluous wealth as he chooses. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The precaution was indeed almost superfluous, for, as we have already said, it was a very dark December night. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Brazil | Nowadays, Brazilian consumers no longer consider cosmetics and toiletries superfluous or unnecessary products. (references) |
Switzerland | The word of mouth advertising from satisfied customers makes huge advertising budgets superfluous and there is usually only a single sales person between the manufacturer and end-user, eliminating the cost-intensive intermediate trade all together. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | REDUNDANT, adj. Superfluous; needless; de trop. The Sultan said: "There's evidence abundant To prove this unbelieving dog redundant." To whom the Grand Vizier, with mien impressive, Replied: "His head, at least, appears excessive." Habeeb Suleiman Mr. Debs is a redundant citizen. Theodore Roosevelt |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | Perhaps words which may define this more precisely, than the whole of the instrument now does, may be considered as superfluous. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Superfluous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.58% of the time. "Superfluous" is used about 240 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.58% | 239 | 19,365 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.42% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 240 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "superfluous": be superfluous ♦ superfluous interval ♦ superfluous variable ♦ superfluous water. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
superfluous | 19 |
define superfluous | 3 |
superfluous things | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "superfluous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | oortollig (overflowing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | i tepërt (excess, excessive, excrescent, last, odd, over, overabundant, redundant, spare, supernumerary, unnecessary, walloping, waste), i tepërm (excess, excessive, excrescent, last, odd, overabundant, redundant, spare, supernumerary, walloping, waste), i panevojshëm (gratuitous, needless, unnecessary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | فائض (excess, overabundant, overflow, overflowing, spare, superabundant, surplus), مفرط (exaggerated, excess, excessive, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme, frightful, immoderate, intemperate, intolerable, overabundant, overmuch, overweening, super, superabundant, superlative, too much, unconscionable, undue, unqualified, unreasonable, unrestrained), نافل (supererogatory), غير مجدي (bootlicker), غير ضروري (dispensable, needless, uncalled for, undue, unnecessary), زائد (excessive, excrescent, plus, redundant, supernumerary, swollen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | разточителен (extravagant, improvident, lavish, luxurious, prodigal, profligate, profuse, spendthrift, sumptuous, thriftless, uneconomic, unsparing, unthrifty, wanton, wasteful), безполезен (baubling, bootless, fruitless, futile, ineffective, inutile, naught, needless, no good, nugatory, otiose, pointless, sorry, trashy, unavailing, unhelpful, up the spout, useless, vain, void, worthless), прекален (excessive, extreme, inordinate, overdone, profuse, thick, unconscionable, undue, unholy, unmerciful), предостатъчен (ample, superabundant), излишен (de trop, excrescent, expletive, needless, otiose, pleonastic, redundant, spare, superabundant, supernumerary, supervacaneous, surplus, unnecessary, unwanted, waste). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 过剩 (overage), 贅瘤 (useless), 贅 , 多餘 (surplus, unnecessary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | nadbyteèný (superabundant, unnecessary), hojný (abundant, ample, copious, effusive, full, generous, luxuriant, opulent, plenteous, plentiful, profuse). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | overskudsvand (escaped water, operation waste, superfluous water), overfloedigt signal (superfluous signal), overflødig type (superfluous sort), en injektionspumpe,resp.en elektronisk styret tilfoersel af braendstof forhindrer ufuldstaendig forbraending og goer efterforbraending overfloedig (an injection pump or an electronically guided fuel supply prevents incomplete combustion and renders the post-combustion device superfluous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | overtollig (overflowing), overbodig (overflowing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | superflua (overflowing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | غیرضروری (Dispensable, Uncalledfor, Undue, Unessential, Unnecessary), زیادی 1 (Excess, Extra, Immensity, Immoderacy, Riffraff, Superfluity, Surplus, Undue), زاءد (Extra, Further, Redundancy, Surplus, Waste), اطناب امیز. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | tarpeeton (needless, uncalled-for, undue, unnecessary, useless), tarpeen (needless, uncalled-for, undue, unnecessary, useless), liikanainen (excessive, surplus), liika (excess, surplus), liiallinen (excessive, inordinate, surplus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | surérogatoire (supererogatory), superflu, inutile. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | überflüssig (expendable, futile, gratuitous, gratuitously, needless, redundant, spare, superfluously, unnecessary, useless, waste). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | περιττόσ (dispensable, needless, odd, redundant, supererogatory, uncalled for, unnecessary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מיותר (excrescent, gratuitous, needless, otiose, redundant, spare, unnecessary), יתיר (additional, excessive), יתר (abundance, excess, excessive, more, remainder, rest, surplus), שופע (abounding, abundant, bounteous, bountiful, copious, fertile, flush, opulent, plentiful, profuse, rich, superabundant), עו"ף (balance, excess, left over, plus, redundance, redundancy, surfeit, surplus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | felesleges (excrescent, over, redundant, spare, surplus, uncalled for, unnecessary, unwanted). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | mubazir. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | superfluo (needless, pointless, uncalled for, unnecessary, wasteful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 冗" (supernumerary, useless workers). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | じょうい" (crew, Lords, repeatedrhymes, Senate, supernumerary, surplus people, Upper House, useless workers). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 불필"한 (unnecessary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | skyoltagh (ample), neulaccallagh, erskyn ymmyd. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | uperfluoussay supérfluo (excrescent, needless, overabundant, overflowing, redundant, supererogatory, supernumerary, supervacaneous, unnecessary, unwanted). (various references) superfluu (excrescent, redundant, unnecessary), inutil (addle, beside the purpose, bootless, effete, excrescent, fruitless, idle, nugatory, pathetic, pathetically, unavailing, unfruitful, unnecessary, unprofitable, useless, uselessly, vain, wasteful, worthless), de prisos (excrescent). (various references) чрезмерный (exacting, exceeding, excessive, exorbitant, extreme, fulsome, immoderate, inordinate, over, overextended, overweening, prodigal, profuse, prohibitive, redundant, supererogatory, unconscionable, undue), излишний (de trop, excessive, needless, over, pleonastic, redundant, superabundant, supervacaneous, unnecessary). (various references) prekomeran (exceeding, excessive, exorbitant, extortionate, inordinate, unmeet), izlišan (redundant, spare, unnecessary). (various references) superfluo (needless, redundant, waste). (various references) överflödig (excrescent, expendable, otiose, redundant). (various references) gereksiz (digressive, excrescent, gratuitous, idle, indecent, indiscreet, inessential, needless, no, non essential, nonessential, otiose, redundant, supererogatory, uncalled for, unjustifiable, unnecessary, unneeded, unneedful), fazla (big, de trop, excess, excessive, extra, in excess of, much, out, over, rising of, spare, super-, supernumerary, surplus, thick, too, unneedful), bol bol (abundantly, amply, aplenty, effusively, galore, generously, in abundance, in armfuls, luxuriantly, plenty, profusely, richly, spacious, superabundant, superfluously). (various references) зайвий (excessive, excrescent, needless, nimious, odd, otiose, over, redundant, spare, surplus), більш ніж достатній. (various references) thừa (needless, redundant, spare, supervacaneous, unnecessary), không cần thiết (dispensable, needless, non-essential, supererogatory, supervacaneous, unnecessary, unneeded). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | circumfusa, circumfusum, exuberans, supererant, supererat, superes, superesse, superessent, superest, superflua, superfluam, superfluos, superfluum, superfluus, superfuerit, superfuit, supersit, supersunt, supervacua, supervacuas, supervacue, supervacuis, supervacuus, susicivus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | 2 Corinthians Chapter 9, Verse 1 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Peri men gar thV diakoniaV thV eiV touV agiouV perisson moi estin to grafein umin |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Nam de ministerio quod fit in sanctos ex abundanti est mihi scribere vobis |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | For of the mynystrie that is maad to hooli men, it is to me of plente to write to you. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | Of the ministrynge to ye saynctes it is but superfluous for me to write vnto you: |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | For as concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | But there is no need for me to say anything in my letter about the giving to the saints: |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | 2 Corinthians Chapter 9, Verse 1 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Karon dili na kinahanglan nga magasulat pa ako kaninyo mahitungod sa mga pag-alagad alang sa mga balaan, |
| Chinese | 論 到 供 給 聖 ' 的 事 、 我 不 必 寫 信 給 們 ． |
| Croatian | A o posluživanju svetih suvišno je da vam pišem. |
| Danish | Thi om Hjælpen til de hellige er det overflødigt at skrive til eder; |
| Dutch | Want van de bediening, die voor de heiligen geschiedt, is mij onnodig aan u te schrijven. |
| Finnish | Pyhien avustamisesta minun tosin on tarpeetonta kirjoittaa teille; |
| French | Il est superflu que je vous écrive touchant l`assistance destinée aux saints. |
| German | Denn von solcher Steuer, die den Heiligen geschieht, ist mir nicht not, euch zu schreiben. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Sebenarnya tidak perlu lagi saya menulis kepada kalian tentang bantuan yang sedang dikirim kepada umat Allah di Yudea. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Adapun akan hal menolong orang suci itu, tiadalah perlu bagiku menyurat kepadamu, |
| Italian | Riguardo poi a questo servizio in favore dei santi, è superfluo che ve ne scriva. |
| Latvian | Bet man ir lieki rakstît jums par palîdzîbas darbu svçtajiem. |
| Maori | ¶ Na, Mo te minitatanga ki te hunga tapu, kahore noa he tikanga i tuhituhi atu ai ahau ki a koutou: |
| Norwegian | For om hjelpen til de hellige har jeg ikke nødig å skrive til eder; |
| Portuguese | Pois quanto ministração que se faz a favor dos santos, não necessito escrever-vos; |
| Rumanian | Este de prisos sq vq mai scriu cu privire la strkngerea de ajutoare pentru sfinyi. |
| Russian | дМС НЕОС Ч ТПЮЕН ЙЪМЙЫОЕ ЙУБФШ ЧБН П ЧУ ПНПЦЕОЙЙ УЧСФЩН, |
| Shuar | ¶ |
| Spanish | En cuanto a esta ayuda para los santos, está de más que os escriba; |
| Swahili | Si lazima kuandika zaidi kuhusu huduma hiyo yenu kwa ajili ya watu wa Mungu. |
| Swedish | Ytterligare uppmaningar till korintierna att lämna bidrag till understödet åt de kristna i Jerusalem. |
| Uma | ¶ Ane kakoo-kono-na, uma mingki' ku'uki' -kokoi ba napa-napa mpokahangai' doi to kikeni mpai' hilou hi tana' Yudea toi-e. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "superfluous": superfluously, superfluousness, superfluousnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Superfluous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: supefluous, superfilious, superfiluous, superflious, superflluous, superflouos, superflouous, superflous, superflueous, superfluious, superfluis, superflulous, superfluos, superflurous, superfluuos, superfluus, superfulous, superfuous, superloos, supurfluous, surperfluous. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "superfluous" (pronounced 'Su*per"flu*ous'): Abdominous, Abiogenous, Ablatitious, Abnormous, Absentaneous, Absonous, Abstemious, Abstentious, Abstractitious, Acanthaceous, Acanthocarpous, Acanthocephalous, Acanthophorous, Acanthopodious, Acanthopterous, Acanthopterygious, Acarpellous, Acarpous, Acclivitous, Acclivous, Acephalous, Acetabuliferous, Acetarious, Acetous, Achilous, Achlamydeous, Acholous, Achromatous, Achroous, Achylous, Achymous, Acidiferous, Acidulous, Acinaceous, Acotyledonous, Acrimonious, Acrocarpous, Acrogenous, Acronyctous, Acrosporous, Acrotomous, Actinophorous, Aculeous, Acuminous, Addititious, Adelphous, Adenophorous, Adenophyllous, Adenous, Adiaphorous. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-f-l-o-p-r-s-s-u-u-u" | |
-2 letters: sulfurous. | |
-3 letters: sporules, uprouses. | |
-4 letters: furless, leprous, lupuses, ourself, pelorus, plessor, poseurs, profess, profuse, pulsers, purfles, pursues, slopers, splores, sporule, sulfurs, surplus, uprouse. | |
-5 letters: flours, fluors, fouler, fusels, fusser, lessor, lopers, losers, loupes, louses, lupous, opuses, ousels, pluses, polers, posers, poseur, proles, proses, pulers, pulser, pulses, purfle, purses, pursue, rouses, rueful, rufous, serous, sloper. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-f-l-o-p-r-s-s-u-u-u" | |
+2 letters: superfluously. | |
+4 letters: superfluousness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Bible Trace | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
