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superfluous
soo-PER-floo-uss
- 01Understand
- 02Hear
- 03Distinguish
- 04See it used
- 05Choose how it lands
More than is needed; unnecessary.
It lets you cut something for being extra rather than for being wrong, which is easier to say and easier to hear.
Useless says it does no good at all. Superfluous says the job was already done, often by the sentence just before it.
writing“The last paragraph is superfluous. The argument finished a page earlier and then kept walking.”
work“Once the dashboard went live the Monday email was superfluous, and nobody wanted to be the one to stop it.”
conversation“He apologised twice, and the second one was superfluous in a way that made the first one smaller.”
Editing a colleague's proposal that is strong and about a third too long.
Meaning held still: Get them to cut it without suggesting the thinking is weak.
“Nothing here is wrong. About a third of it is superfluous, and cutting that makes the rest louder.”
It lands as: Protects the content while naming the size of the problem exactly.
Tradeoff: A third is a large number, and hearing it first can make a writer defensive about which third.“You make the case by page two. Everything after that is you making it again.”
It lands as: Shows them the pattern so they can find the cuts themselves.
Tradeoff: It diagnoses without pointing at anything specific, which can paralyse a nervous writer.“Send me half of this. Same argument.”
It lands as: Sets an unmistakable target and treats the argument itself as already sound.
Tradeoff: An arbitrary number invites even cutting rather than the cuts that matter.Watch for: Superfluous means more than is needed, not merely decorative. A line that adds pleasure rather than information is not automatically superfluous.
First met in The Cost of Being Clear. Saving keeps that example with the word.