How to Use extraneous in a Sentence

extraneous

adjective
  • She sped up the process by eliminating all extraneous steps.
  • There's a lot of extraneous things we get wrapped up in this world.
    — Reid Forgrave, Star Tribune, 11 June 2021
  • Wipe through the fridge to get any extraneous drips and spills.
    — Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2021
  • The season is a tight six episodes, and no scene feels extraneous or too short.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024
  • One of her strengths is a lack of fuss, her ability to cull the extraneous.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 2 June 2017
  • The answer though is not to add an extraneous purpose on top.
    — Steve Denning, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2022
  • Events and scenes are meaningful; rarely is there an extraneous or ragged thread.
    — Christine Smallwood, Harper's magazine, 16 Sep. 2019
  • Burls on trees are extraneous growths caused from damage, stress, or disease.
    — Lauren Bengtson, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Aug. 2024
  • Alas, the list is just another extraneous detail in a film full of them.
    — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2023
  • So, as is often the case with this extraneous game, the main focus will be on the newcomers.
    — Chris Burke, SI.com, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Leave the blind at home and go as light as possible, so your extraneous gear won’t get caught up in the brush and make a racket.
    — Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 16 Apr. 2026
  • As the branches grow, continue to tie them to their support wires and prune away any extraneous shoots.
    — Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 19 June 2019
  • Little is extraneous, but the space isn’t perfect, and that’s on purpose.
    — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 6 Aug. 2024
  • Neighbors meet at a school to discuss an extraneous matter, and one dies by handgun.
    — Vogue, 2 June 2019
  • In the wild these processes may not be extraneous, so that those without them may grow faster, but then perish.
    — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 11 July 2012
  • Testers found the high ankle swallowtail feature to be a bit extraneous, though the heel cup does hold the foot in place.
    — Outside Online, 27 July 2022
  • Porcelain War shows us how the vision of artists is never extraneous, least of all in wartime.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 2 Mar. 2025
  • In other ways, Christian clears the extraneous from their lives.
    — Anndee Hochman, Philly.com, 13 Feb. 2018
  • Every extraneous piece of equipment had been removed to make space for the rangers, who clambered in with their weapons.
    — Tristan McConnell, GQ, 16 Apr. 2018
  • To alter the rhyming couplets with extraneous emotion or a hint of free will would be a form of blasphemy.
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2018
  • The paranormal elements felt a bit extraneous, at least in this first episode.
    — Julie Muncy, Ars Technica, 28 Sep. 2018
  • The later song clocks in at nearly 14 minutes but doesn’t have one extraneous note.
    — George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Sep. 2021
  • Each of these celebrations was a time to block out the extraneous noise of the workaday world and feast on food and freedom.
    — New York Times, 6 June 2022
  • The belt drive cuts down on extraneous noise and is unusually placed outside the platter.
    — Jim Allen, Popular Mechanics, 23 Nov. 2020
  • At the same time, the close-fitting memory foam earcups help to block out extraneous noise passively.
    — Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2023
  • In short, the Byrd rule makes certain no extraneous provisions are snuck into a bill.
    — Salena Zito, Washington Examiner, 17 Feb. 2021
  • The long, smooth curves of the Riviera's body are unusually free of cut lines and extraneous chrome trim.
    — Csaba Csere, Car and Driver, 23 Feb. 2021
  • What is the best time to prune trees (suckers from plum trees; extraneous branches from a Japanese maple in a pot)?
    — The Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2020
  • The Invite should, in a perfect world, relegate that extraneous stuff to the back pages.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2026
  • And of course, while Hannah is cleaning her wounds, there’s an extraneous shot of her undressing.
    — Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 15 May 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'extraneous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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