meaning of 'Superfluous to'

[Paige]

Common Errors in English, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #12 "Latin Words", question 7

They've sent far too many of these items and thus they are supercilious to our requirements.

(a) They've sent
(b) items
(c) thus
(d) supercilious

Common Errors in English, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #12 "Latin Words", answer 7

They've sent far too many of these items and thus they are superfluous to our requirements.

Correct entry: superfluous
The error was: (d) supercilious
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i do not understand

Paige

[Alan]

Hi,

'Superfluous to' means more than you want.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Dina27]

Good morning,

Sentences with Latin words are much more complicated than idiomatic ones for me ;-) If you`ll be so kind and find time to explain the situation in which this phrase appeared natively maybe then I could catch the meaning, and understand the mistake.

Sincerely yours,

Dina

[Alan]

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Hello Dina,

'Super' as a prefix to a word often means as I'm sure you know, either 'above' or 'more/greater than'.

'Supercilious' suggests the idea of 'arrogant'. If you adopt a supercilious attitude towards someone, you give the impression that you are more important than they are -that you are in that sense 'above' them. The Latin origin of the word literally means 'raised eyebrow'.

'Superfluous' generally means more than is needed or required. If a company orders 1,000 items of a particular product and they receive 1,200, the result is that the 200 extra items are superfluous. Again back to Latin, the word derives from 'overflow' as of water pouring out over the top of a container.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Dina27]

I used to translate "items" as articles or messages that`s my mistake, advanced level is too deep for me, thanks for the buoy I enjoy swimming here now ;-)