How to Use superficial in a Sentence

superficial

adjective
  • They had a superficial knowledge of the topic.
  • The storm only caused superficial damage to the building.
  • These superficial changes don't address the underlying problem.
  • This is not the time for superficial love.
    — Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 2 Nov. 2025
  • Most of the wounds were superficial, but four of the stab wounds to the neck were not.
    — Mike Hellgren, CBS News, 6 Dec. 2025
  • These records go back at least a month and are handy for a superficial look at your sleep health.
    — PCMAG, 17 Oct. 2024
  • In terms of the more superficial sense of comity, this is not true.
    — Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 May 2018
  • This sign is not one for superficial small talk or rushing about.
    — Isabelle Kliger, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 July 2022
  • On the flip side, air signs can also be flighty and superficial.
    — Madison Feller, ELLE, 28 Feb. 2023
  • There’s a wide range of peels on the market, from superficial to deep peels.
    — Mackenzie Wagoner, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2020
  • Some will call it superficial, but there is something to it.
    — Hedy Phillips, PEOPLE, 23 June 2026
  • Once the shoes are moisture-free, your first step is to brush away any superficial dirt.
    — Gia Yetikyel, Vogue, 31 Aug. 2024
  • That’s a superficial one-up, though, the kind that wins on paper but not in a court of law.
    — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 1 Apr. 2026
  • But all the wounds were superficial.
    — Sean Emery, Oc Register, 5 Mar. 2026
  • There is a lot of money to be made out of being superficial.
    — Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
  • And kind of playing with things at the outside of the edges in very superficial ways?
    — Fortune Editors, Fortune, 8 Feb. 2023
  • That is not to suggest that Moser’s project is in any way superficial.
    — Nina Siegal, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2019
  • In fact, our testers noted no damage save for a few superficial scuffs.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 25 Jan. 2023
  • So the language has to be very glitzy and superficial and populist.
    — Steven Leckart, WIRED, 19 Oct. 2010
  • These blows came alongside the superficial changes of having his blonde locks and right eye cut away.
    — Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 May 2018
  • Maybe what the firings say about the league is the superficial matters.
    — Gladys Louise Tyler, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Yet the superficial script lets the actors and crew members down.
    — Stephen Farber, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2025
  • The damage on the left front side was superficial, police said.
    — Erika Butler, The Aegis, 31 Aug. 2017
  • The image is a superficial image on the upper fibers of the cloth.
    — Joanne Berger Dumound/special To Cleveland.com., cleveland.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • Nor was its appeal superficial, like some of the other items pictured on the side of the ice cream truck.
    — Steve Kolowich, Washington Post, 26 July 2022
  • Light pressure on dry skin is thought to support superficial lymph flow near the skin’s surface.
    — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 30 June 2026
  • On the other hand, the series’s superficial pleasures have been enough to keep it easy to watch this far.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Yara had a dozen knife lacerations to her throat and back, which were too superficial to have caused her death.
    — Nicholas Farrell, Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2014
  • The cat eye might be an attempt, however superficial, to draw a line.
    — Thessaly La Force, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2022
  • The same can’t be said for Alzheimer’s other than on the most superficial level.
    — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, 12 June 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'superficial.' 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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