adjective
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exceeding what is sufficient or required
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not necessary or relevant; uncalled-for
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obsolete extravagant in expenditure or oversupplied with possessions
Other Word Forms
- superfluously adverb
- superfluousness noun
- unsuperfluous adjective
- unsuperfluously adverb
- unsuperfluousness noun
Etymology
Origin of superfluous
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin superfluus, from super- super- + flu- (stem of fluere “to flow”) + -us -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Once again, artificial intelligence was at the center of the selloff, amid worries that software would be made superfluous by Anthropic’s Claude applications.
From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026
The recordings were just as funny and weird and interesting as I remembered them; they didn’t seem dated, they didn’t seem superfluous, they weren’t something I was going to grow out of.
From Salon • Dec. 23, 2025
This provoked yelps from technocrats who said it was impractical and superfluous.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 18, 2025
The company has eliminated unpopular wing sauces, 86’d a superfluous fried-chicken batter, and thinned out the burger menu—all in service of making the kitchen a more simple place to work.
From Slate • Aug. 11, 2025
Moreover, the New Army, which Adams had opposed and then rendered superfluous, had strained the federal budget to a point that demanded new sources of revenue.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
