Superficial
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Pronunciation /ˌsuː.pəˈfɪʃ.əl/ · Part of speech adjective
Quick meaning: Superficial is an adjective meaning (relational) Existing, occurring, or located on the surface.
Meaning
(relational) Existing, occurring, or located on the surface.
More Meanings
- Appearing to be true or real only until examined more closely.
- Not thorough, deep, or complete; concerned only with the obvious or apparent.
- (British, architecture) Denoting a quantity of a material expressed in terms of area covered rather than linear dimension or volume.
- (usually in the plural) A surface detail.
- (rare) Two-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.
Example Sentences
one superficial foot
He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.
Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections, rather than superficial study of every packet that comes to hand.
Word Forms
- superficials
Synonyms for superficial
Depending on context, synonyms include surficial, external, cursory, facile, sketchy, glib.
Antonyms for superficial
Common opposites include in-depth, thorough, profound.
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include skin-deep, glib, shallow, dilettante, dilettanteish, facile.
Related Dictionary Tools
Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.