Superfluous

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Superfluous \Su*per"flu*ous\, a. [L. superfluus overflowing;
     super over, above + fluere to flow. See {Super-}, and
     {Fluent}.]
     More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by
     superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive; as, a
     superfluous price. --Shak.


     [1913 Webster]
  
           An authority which makes all further argument or
           illustration superfluous.                --E. Everett.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Superfluous interval} (Mus.), an interval that exceeds a
        major or perfect interval by a semitone.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Unnecessary; useless; exuberant; excessive; redundant;
          needless.
          [1913 Webster] -- {Su*per"flu*ous*ly}, adv. --
          {Su*per"flu*ous*ness}, n.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  superfluous
       adj 1: serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being;
              "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"
              [syn: {otiose}, {pointless}, {wasted}]
       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" [syn: {excess}, {extra},
          {redundant}, {spare}, {supererogatory}, {supernumerary}, {surplus}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  73 Moby Thesaurus words for "superfluous":
     accessory, accidental, additional, adscititious, adventitious,
     aimless, appurtenant, ascititious, auxiliary, casual,
     circumstantial, collateral, contingent, de trop, dispensable,
     excess, excessive, expendable, expletive, extra, feckless,
     fortuitous, gratuitous, impotent, in excess, incidental,
     ineffective, ineffectual, inessential, left, leftover, meaningless,
     needless, net, no go, nonessential, odd, of no use, outstanding,
     over, pleonastic, pointless, prolix, purposeless, redundant,
     remaining, remanent, secondary, spare, subsidiary, superabundant,
     superadded, supererogatory, supernumerary, supervenient,
     supplemental, supplementary, surplus, surviving, tautologic,
     tautologous, to spare, unasked, unavailing, uncalled-for,
     unconsumed, unessential, unnecessary, unneeded, unused, unwanted,
     useless, verbose