[syn: excess, extra, redundant, spare, supererogatory, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
superfluous
adj 1: 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" [syn: otiose, pointless,
purposeless, senseless, superfluous, 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, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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