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extraneous: msg#00011

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: extraneous

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The Word of the Day for March 12 is:

extraneous \ek-STRAY-nee-us\ adjective
1 : existing on or coming from the outside
2 *a : not forming an essential or vital part b : having
no relevance
3 : being a number obtained in solving an equation that is
not a solution of the equation

Example sentence:
After he finished the first draft of his essay, Brad
reread it and deleted the extraneous material, making it more
concise and focused.

Did you know?
We'll try not to weigh you down with a lot of extraneous
information about the word "extraneous," but we will tell you
that it has been a part of the English language since at least
1638. It derives from the Latin word "extraneus," which
literally means "external." "Extraneus" is also the root of the
words "strange" and "estrange" ("to alienate the affections or
confidence of").

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.






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