extraneous

1. 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”

   Synonymsimmaterialimpertinentorthogonal

   Similarirrelevant
2. 2.

   not essential

   “the ballet struck me as extraneous and somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the play”

   Similarextrinsic
3. 3.

   not belonging to that in which it is contained; introduced from an outside source

   “water free of extraneous matter”

   “foreign particles in milk”

   Synonymsforeign

   Similaradulterating
4. 4.

   coming from the outside

   “extraneous light in the camera spoiled the photograph”

   “relying upon an extraneous income”

   “disdaining outside pressure groups”

   Synonymsexternaloutside

   Similarextrinsic

Questions about extraneous

What does extraneous mean?

extraneous means "not pertinent to the matter under consideration". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in extraneous?

extraneous has 4 syllables: ex-tra-ne-ous. The stress falls on "tra". In IPA it is /ɛkˈstɹeɪniəs/.

What is another word for extraneous?

Close synonyms include immaterial, impertinent, orthogonal, foreign, external. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is extraneous a common word?

extraneous is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.