Necessary and Superfluous

Necessary

Necessary adjective - Impossible to do without.
Usage example: food and water are necessary for survival

Superfluous is an antonym for necessary in topics: needed, unnecessary.

Nearby Words: necessity, necessarily

Superfluous

Superfluous adjective - Being over what is needed.

Necessary is an antonym for superfluous in extra topic.

Nearby Words: superfluity, superfluously

Both words in one sentence

  • Shaped Like Itself While the URL expands to "International Flipper Pinball Association Pinball", a quick Google search shows that IFPA is highly ambiguous and many organizations share that acronym so the superfluous "pinball" is necessary for disambiguation.
Cite this Source
Superfluous and Necessary. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/necessary/superfluous
Necessary & Superfluous. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/necessary/superfluous>.
Superfluous or Necessary. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/necessary/superfluous.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "necessary" and "superfluous" have occurred on timeline