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# superfluous

adjective (superfluous)

«superfluous» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Superfluous means more than is needed, extra and not necessary: "Cut the superfluous words from your sentence." [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#m1)
2. (formal) Superfluous can mean not wanted or useful, so a person may feel superfluous when they are not needed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#m2)

### In the lessons

In English lessons, editing writing means removing superfluous words and repetition. In formal exam language it means unnecessary. In maths word problems, some information may be superfluous: you do not need it to solve the problem. Phrases: "superfluous detail", "superfluous information", "feel superfluous".

### Examples

- Delete any superfluous words from your story. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x1)
- The extra decorations were superfluous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x2)
- The problem had superfluous information about the colour of the bus. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x3)
- Packing three umbrellas seems superfluous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x4)
- With two helpers already, I felt superfluous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x5)
- His long speech had a lot of superfluous detail. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x6)
- Shoes inside a swimming pool are superfluous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x7)
- \[457\] A few lines are here omitted as being superfluous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/#x8)

### Note

Pronounced "soo-PER-floo-us" (stress on PER). Formal word; simpler: unnecessary, extra. In maths, spotting superfluous numbers is a skill: not every number in a problem must be used.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «superfluous» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/superfluous/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«superfluous» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/superfluous.html) on Mova free.