serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless"; "senseless violence"
superfluous
How to use superfluous in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for superfluous.
Editorial note
But all my 'stuff' is out there, so closing the accounts now is somewhat superfluous and pointless.
Quick take
serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless"; "senseless violence"
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of superfluous gathered in one view.
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"
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for superfluous.
adjective
serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless"; "senseless violence"
See also: otiose, pointless, purposeless, senseless, wasted
adjective
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"
See also: excess, extra, redundant, spare, supererogatory, supernumerary, surplus
Example sentences
But all my 'stuff' is out there, so closing the accounts now is somewhat superfluous and pointless.
This is an oddly compelling case for something that I would have written off as superfluous.
It has superfluous node "attributes" that don't map well to common run-time constructs.
It has a superfluous animation of a reel-to-reel player of course.
Is this just observation, or are you uniquely qualified to judge these two products?The link is completely superfluous.
I sort of understand why they think they don't need it for email, but having two separate G+ account is completely superfluous, thanks to the Circles system.
Seemingly superfluous code can force some of the branches into a different 16-byte group, improving overall performance.
I became suspicious because the writing style of this paper was very superfluous, yet the conclusions were very strongly worded.
Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system.
Do you have all the operator precedences memorized, or do you use superfluous parentheses because you're not always sure?It's true that the semicolon is not needed, and it's true that the minifier is breaking code.
All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use superfluous in a sentence?
But all my 'stuff' is out there, so closing the accounts now is somewhat superfluous and pointless.
What does superfluous mean?
serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless"; "senseless violence"
What part of speech is superfluous?
superfluous is commonly used as adjective.