supernumerary

English

Etymology

From the Late Latin supernumerarius ‎(“excessively high in number”), from super ‎(“above; beyond”) + numerum, accusative of numerus ‎(“number”).

Noun

supernumerary ‎(plural supernumeraries)

1. A civil designation for somebody who works in a group, association or public office, without forming part of the regular staff; those distinguished from numerary. (For example, supernumerary judges are those who help the regular judges when there is a surplus amount of work.)
2. An extra or walk-on in a film or play; spear-carrier.
3. An animal which has not formed a pair bond and is therefore single.
   • 1992, Sarah Anne Sloane, Supernumeraries at bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) nests (page 50)
   • 2004, Walter D. Koenig, Janis L. Dickinson, Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds, Cambridge University Press (ISBN 9780521530996), page 88

     There are differences in the composition of the social group such as whether one or more sex provides help, and the stability of the associations between supernumeraries and the dominant breeders.

   • 2005, William Donald Hamilton, Narrow Roads of Gene Land: Volume 1: Evolution of Social Behaviour, Oxford University Press on Demand (ISBN 9780716745303), page 278

     The best evidence so far that social supernumeraries are physically capable of bettering their lot concerns not rodents but birds.

Translations

somebody who works in a group without forming part of the regular staff

• French: surnuméraire (fr) m, f, suppléant (fr)

person in a play or movie with a minimal part — see walk-on

Adjective

supernumerary ‎(not comparable)

1. Extra; beyond the standard or prescribed amount or number.
   • 1948: Aldous Huxley, Ape and Essence, page 74: 1949 “Chatto & Windus” edition; 1972 “Harper & Row” edition

     Over close-ups of little faces with hare lips, little trunks with stumps instead of legs and arms, little hands with clusters of supernumerary fingers, little bodies adorned with a double row of nipples, we hear the voice of the Narrator.

2. Greater in number than.
3. Beyond what is necessary.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:supernumerary.

Translations

beyond the standard or prescribed amount

• French: surnuméraire (fr) m, f, en surnombre

beyond what is necessary

• French: en trop (fr), en surnombre

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Romanian: supranumerar (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: prekobrojan (sh)

External links

• supernumerary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• supernumerary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• supernumerary at OneLook Dictionary Search