Adjacent Words

Extraneous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXTRA'NEOUS, a. [L. extraneus.] Foreign; not belonging to a thing; existing without; not intrinsic; as, to separate gold from extraneous matter.
Relation is not contained in the real existence of things, but is extraneous and superinduced.
Extraneous fossils, organic remains; exuviae of organized beings, imbedded in the strata of the earth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not pertinent to the matter under consideration; "an issue extraneous to the debate"; "the price was immaterial"; "mentioned several impertinent facts before finally coming to the point" [syn: extraneous, immaterial, impertinent, orthogonal]
2: not essential; "the ballet struck me as extraneous and somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the play"
3: not belonging to that in which it is contained; introduced from an outside source; "water free of extraneous matter"; "foreign particles in milk" [syn: extraneous, foreign]
4: coming from the outside; "extraneous light in the camera spoiled the photograph"; "relying upon an extraneous income"; "disdaining outside pressure groups" [syn: external, extraneous, outside]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin extraneus — more at strange Date: 1638 1. existing on or coming from the outside <extraneous light> 2. a. not forming an essential or vital part <extraneous ornamentation> b. having no relevance <an extraneous digression> 3. being a number obtained in solving an equation that is not a solution of the equation <extraneous roots> Synonyms: see extrinsic • extraneously adverb • extraneousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 of external origin. 2 (often foll. by to) a separate from the object to which it is attached etc. b external to; irrelevant or unrelated to. Derivatives: extraneously adv. extraneousness n. Etymology: L extraneus

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Extraneous Ex*tra"ne*ous, a. [L. extraneus, from extra. See Extra-, Strange.] Not belonging to, or dependent upon, a thing; without or beyond a thing; not essential or intrinsic; foreign; as, to separate gold from extraneous matter. Nothing is admitted extraneous from the indictment. --Landor. -- Ex*tra"ne*ous*ly, adv.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Extraneous things are not relevant or essential to the situation you are involved in or the subject you are talking about. (FORMAL) We ought not to bring in extraneous matters in trying to find a basis for a settlement... ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Foreign, extrinsic. 2. Non-pertinent, not germane, unessential, superfluous.

Moby Thesaurus

accidental, added, additional, adrift, adventitious, alien, apart, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, beside the mark, beside the point, beside the question, detached, disconnected, discrete, disjunct, disrelated, dissociated, exotic, exterior, external, extra, extraorganismal, extraterrestrial, extrinsic, foreign, foreign-born, immaterial, impersonal, impertinent, inadmissible, inapplicable, inapposite, inappropriate, inapt, incidental, incommensurable, incomparable, inconsequent, independent, inessential, insular, intrusive, irrelative, irrelevant, isolated, needless, nihil ad rem, nonessential, nonsubjective, not at issue, objective, off the subject, other, out of place, out-of-the-way, outland, outlandish, outlying, outside, outward, parenthetical, peripheral, pointless, remote, removed, segregate, separate, separated, strange, superfluous, supernumerary, ulterior, unaffiliated, unallied, unapt, unassociated, unconnected, unearthly, unessential, unfitting, unnecessary, unneeded, unrelatable, unrelated