supervacaneous

English

WOTD – 2 June 2011

Etymology

From Latin supervacāneus; compare Italian supervacaneo, Portuguese supervacâneo, Spanish supervacáneo.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: so͞o'pərvəkāʹnĭəs, syo͞o'pərvəkāʹnĭəs, IPA^(key): /ˌsuːpəvəˈkeɪnɪəs/, /ˌsjuːpəvəˈkeɪnɪəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌsuːpəɹvəˈkeɪnɪəs/

Adjective

supervacaneous (not comparable)

1. (now rare) Added above what is needed or necessary; superfluous, redundant.
   • 1915, George Wharton James, Our American Woodlands:

     It is an awful thing to find your efforts supervacaneous when you are so far away from home and friends, sympathy, and help.

   • 1960, Nancy Mitford, Don't Tell Alfred:

     ‘It became all the more important for me to get out because my son Foster, aged now fifteen, is only ten points below genius and this genius would have been unavailing and supervacaneous, in other words wasted, behind the iron curtain.’

   • 1972, Aiko Itō and Graeme Wilson, translating Natsume Sōseki, I Am a Cat (2002 combined edition, Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, volume one, chapter III, page 152:

     If I were simply to discuss noses in disregard of their relation to other entities, then I would declare without fear of contradiction that the nose of Mrs. Goldfield is superb, superlative, and, though possibly supervacaneous, one well-placed to win first prize at any exhibition of nasal development which might be organized by the long-nosed goblins on Mount Kurama.

Synonyms

• pleonastic, redundant, superfluous, supervacaneal (obsolete), supervacuous (obsolete)

Derived terms

• supervacaneously, supervacaneousness

Translations

superfluous, redundant

• Finnish: ylenpalttinen (fi)
• Russian: изли́шний (ru) (izlíšnij), избыточный (ru) (izbytočnyj), нену́жный (ru) (nenúžnyj)

References

• “supervacaneous, a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]