How to Use superfluous in a Sentence

superfluous

adjective
Definition of superfluousnext
Synonyms for superfluousnext
  • Maybe the horse is simply the horse, the prop, the superfluous detail used to make the point.
    — T Kira Madden, refinery29.com, 3 Aug. 2021
  • Getting rid of the superfluous is a good place to start.
    — Yec, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021
  • The lead peaked at 31 but at a certain point, the score felt superfluous.
    — Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star, 7 Dec. 2019
  • As there are many things to take care of we end up leaving the superfluous aside.
    — Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2020
  • One way of telling that many licences are superfluous is the sheer variance in the law across states.
    — The Economist, 17 Feb. 2018
  • Which made most of the F-150 Lightning's bulk superfluous to my needs.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 5 Jan. 2024
  • But the larger bases and new pickoff rules have put a superfluous shine on that bling.
    — Austin Knoblauch, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023
  • Its business class is so good that the top tier is superfluous.
    — Adam Majendie, Bloomberg.com, 4 June 2023
  • The wedge of lemon along the side was completely superfluous.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 28 Nov. 2019
  • The concept of a summer scarf–even one this light–is superfluous yet chic.
    — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 13 July 2022
  • The superfluous swag had Oral-B’s logo silkscreened on it.
    — Lauren Goode, Wired, 24 Jan. 2020
  • But the real star of the show was her vocals, daring and wild in a way that made all the rest of the spectacle seem superfluous.
    — Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2023
  • The changeup has largely been a superfluous weapon for the three-time Cy Young Award winner.
    — Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2022
  • Pillows are superfluous in space and their blanket will be a sleeping bag strapped to the wall.
    — Daniel Oberhaus, WIRED, 11 June 2019
  • On the matter of health and living, force is superfluous.
    — John Tamny, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023
  • Although the bag seems superfluous, a lot of people bought it.
    — Zoe Weiner, Teen Vogue, 21 June 2017
  • What's next, a bevy of superfluous gauges on the A-pillar and an air freshener redolent of Axe body spray?
    — Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 10 Oct. 2020
  • My job was to capture their genius and not take shots that were superfluous.
    — New York Times, 18 May 2022
  • One motivation was to get out ahead of the unions and treat workers in a way that would make unions superfluous.
    — Thomas S. Hibbs, National Review, 31 Aug. 2017
  • The goal of the booster has already been accomplished, so a shot would be superfluous.
    — Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2022
  • In their dynamic drawings—the old man’s in black and white and the boy’s in color—the two find a joyful place of encounter where words are superfluous.
    — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 1 June 2018
  • And finally, after all that's done, there's a chance that the protein, which is superfluous to the virus, will end up being lost.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 29 July 2020
  • But most of the goals in the US’ 13-0 victory over Thailand on Tuesday will likely turn out to be superfluous.
    — Frank Dell’apa, BostonGlobe.com, 11 June 2019
  • Lee adds a touch of class (and a superfluous third nipple) to the colorful menagerie of big-screen Bond villains with his solar death ray.
    — Chris Nashawaty, EW.com, 29 May 2024
  • New York Picture books about the law are as superfluous as songs about economics.
    — Edward Rothstein, WSJ, 26 Sep. 2017
  • Here, too, the rivers of people were well behaved—even the drunks seemed mellow—and with a multitude of cops on hand the squad of Angels was perhaps superfluous.
    — Bruce Handy, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
  • One of its massive timepieces, greened with age, looms so large in the windows of the master suite that a bedside alarm feels almost superfluous.
    — New York Times, 19 July 2019
  • All the safety precautions settled on months ago proved to be superfluous at these first dates.
    — Star Tribune, 2 July 2021
  • No one is useless; no one is superfluous; there is room for everyone.
    — Chad De Guzman, TIME, 28 May 2024
  • To be fair, there is a certain pathos to Wenders’s portrait of a superfluous 21st-century man, a flower child who has lived long enough to see the glorious music of his youth become analog keepsakes.
    — Hazlitt, 15 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'superfluous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: