Dictionary

supererogatory en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /suːpəɹɛˈɹɒɡətəɹi/

Etymology

From Latin superērogātōrius (“supererogatory”), from superērogātiō (“payment in addition”), from superērogō (“pay out over and above”), from super (“above”) + ērogō (“pay out, expend”); from ex (“out of, from”) + rogō (“ask; request”).

Meanings

1. Pertaining to supererogation; doing more than is required.
   • It [capitalism] increasingly deploys not just bureaucratic repression but an invested, overt, supererogatory sadism. 2022, China Miéville, chapter 6, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:
   • "In now you come," she ordered, "and we make love." That seemed supererogatory to David Jones, who, under the gaze of the painted deer, got in there and did as he was told. 1989, Anthony Burgess, “Un”, in Any Old Iron, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Washington Square Press, Pocket Books, 1990, →ISBN, page 20:
   • They passed into the ancient shipyard which lay beyond, and which was now a mere vague, grass-grown approach to the waterside, bestrewn with a few remnants of supererogatory timber. 1885–1886, Henry James, The Bostonians […], London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 16 February 1886, →OCLC:
   • It is, for example, not clear whether “love thy enemy” is a precept or a supererogatory counsel. 2002, David Heyd, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
2. Of a deed or action, morally benevolent and exceeding the strict requirement of God.

Forms

Deriveds

supererogatorily

Relateds

supererogation · supererogate

Translations (11)

es supererogatorio (doing more than is required) · nl overdadig (doing more than is required) · nl zonder verplichting (doing more than is required) · fr surérogatoire (doing more than is required) · el πέραν του δέοντος (doing more than is required) · el περιττός (doing more than is required) · it supererogatorio (doing more than is required) · pt supererrogatório (doing more than is required) · la superērogātōrius (doing more than is required) · de übergebührlich (doing more than is required) · pt supererrogativo (doing more than is required)