Extraneous

Practice This Word

Not related to the matter at hand; not essential; irrelevant or unnecessary.

adjective

Extraneous

Not related to the matter at hand; not essential; irrelevant or unnecessary.

adjective

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Imagine This

An extra column of comics is added to the newspaper to appeal to comic readers, but it was not essential to those who only read the news, business, or sports sections.

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Sounds Like

ek-STRAY-nee-us

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Looks Like

Looks like: extra + neous

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Remember This

Root means outside or foreign; extraneous things are outside the main matter.

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Other Forms

extraneouslyadverb

extraneousnessnoun

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Connect With

irrelevant, unrelated, incidental, superfluous, redundant

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Note

Do not confuse extraneous with simply 'additional.' Extraneous implies irrelevance or unnecessary detail to the topic being considered.

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Study Deeper

Examples

The report contained extraneous details that distracted from the main conclusions.
During editing, the author removed extraneous paragraphs to improve clarity.

Synonyms

irrelevantunrelatedsuperfluousredundantincidental

Antonyms

essentialrelevantpertinent

Etymology

From Latin extrāneus 'foreign, external', from extrā 'outside'; the English form came to be through Old French extraneux.

Mnemonic

EXTRA items are not NE-cessary: extraneous = extra stuff that isn’t needed.

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Candid

adjective

Truthful and straightforward; frank, open, and not rehearsed.

Salvage

verb

To rescue or recover something from loss, damage, or ruin, or to reclaim usable material from discarded or damaged items.

Consign

verb

To deliver or hand over to another's care, custody, or control, often for safekeeping, shipment, or disposal; to assign or commit to a particular fate or course of action.