supernumerary Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person serving no apparent function
    • reducing staff is difficult because our employees include no supernumeraries
  2. noun a minor actor in crowd scenes
    spear carrier; extra.
  3. adjective satellite more than is needed, desired, or required
    supererogatory; extra; redundant; surplus; spare; excess; superfluous.
    • trying to lose excess weight
    • found some extra change lying on the dresser
    • yet another book on heraldry might be thought redundant
    • skills made redundant by technological advance
    • sleeping in the spare room
    • supernumerary ornamentation
    • it was supererogatory of her to gloat
    • delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words
    • extra ribs as well as other supernumerary internal parts
    • surplus cheese distributed to the needy

WordNet

Su`per*nu"mer*a*ry adjective
Etymology
L. supernumerarius: cf. OF. supernuméraire, F. surnuméraire. See Super-, and Numerary, Number.
Definitions
  1. Exceeding the number stated or prescribed; as, a supernumerary officer in a regiment.
  2. Exceeding a necessary, usual, or required number or quality; superfluous; as, supernumerary addresses; supernumerary expense. Addison.
Su`per*nu"mer*a*ry noun
Wordforms
plural Supernumeraries
Definitions
  1. A person or thing beyond the number stated.
  2. A person or thing beyond what is necessary or usual; especially, a person employed not for regular service, but only to fill the place of another in case of need; specifically, in theaters, a person who is not a regular actor, but is employed to appear in a stage spectacle.

Webster 1913