SURPLUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does surplus mean? 

• SURPLUS (noun)
  The noun SURPLUS has 1 sense:

1. a quantity much larger than is needed

  Familiarity information: SURPLUS used as a noun is very rare.

• SURPLUS (adjective)
  The adjective SURPLUS has 1 sense:

1. more than is needed, desired, or required

  Familiarity information: SURPLUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SURPLUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A quantity much larger than is needed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

excess; nimiety; surplus; surplusage

Hypernyms ("surplus" is a kind of...):

overabundance; overmuch; overmuchness; superabundance (a quantity that is more than what is appropriate)

• SURPLUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

More than is needed, desired, or required

Synonyms:

excess; extra; redundant; spare; supererogatory; superfluous; supernumerary; surplus

Context example:

surplus cheese distributed to the needy

Similar:

unnecessary; unneeded (not necessary)

 Context examples 

Having a surplus of electrons; having a lower electric potential.

(Negative Charge, NCI Thesaurus)

Banding also permits the recognition of chromosome deletions (lost segments), chromosome duplications (surplus segments) and other types of structural rearrangements of chromosomes.

(Chromosome Banding, NCI Thesaurus)

The numbers we see may simply be the surplus population.

(Giant group of octopus moms discovered in the deep sea, National Science Foundation)

As seal and whale populations dwindled, a surplus of krill was likely available.

(Whaling and climate change lead to 100 years of feast or famine for Antarctic penguins, National Science Foundation)

But, said Traddles, the surplus that would be left as his means of support—and I suppose the house to be sold, even in saying this—would be so small, not exceeding in all probability some hundreds of pounds, that perhaps, Miss Wickfield, it would be best to consider whether he might not retain his agency of the estate to which he has so long been receiver.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed and all emulously hoping to do better still, and laying out the surplus of their grains in coquetry; so that the shop fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)