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SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS

extraneous

adjective

Irrelevant or not essential to the matter at hand.

Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.

Irrelevant or unnecessary

Closest synonyms

Related words and expressions

These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.

Usage distinction

Peripheral material can still be relevant; extraneous material falls outside what the present purpose requires.

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Test this word in the Comprehensive Synonym Exam

CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT

See extraneous in use

The editor removed extraneous details that slowed the narrative.
Dictionary practice example.
A photography club asked Owen for a comprehensive handover guide to its shared equipment, covering booking, collection, condition checks, and returns. The accompanying inventory needed to be exhaustive within its stated scope, listing every item in the cabinet so borrowers could check a kit before leaving. Owen removed an extraneous account of how the club had chosen its old logo.
From Enough Detail, in the Right Order.

Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.

Synonym reference scope and sources

The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.

How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license

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