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# surplus

«surplus» in Mova's school dictionary: **an amount that is more than what is needed, an extra…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (surplus, surpluses); adjective (surplus)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A surplus is an amount that is more than what is needed, an extra amount left over. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#m1)

2) Surplus means extra, not needed: «surplus food». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#m2)

3) A budget surplus is when more money comes in than goes out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

the extra left after needs are met: surplus = what there is − what is needed; in geography and history: farms with a surplus of food can sell or trade it; in everyday life: give surplus food to a food bank; in money: a surplus is money left after paying for everything

### examples

- The farm grew 500 kg of wheat and needed 350 kg, so there is a surplus. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x1)
- What is the surplus if 40 chairs are needed and there are 52? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x2)
- The shop sold its surplus apples cheaply. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x3)
- The surplus was 30 litres. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x4)
- The school gave its surplus books to a library. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x5)
- A surplus of rain made the crops grow well. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x6)
- The club had a surplus of 20 dollars after the trip. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x7)
- Farmers traded their surplus grain for tools. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/#x8)

### note

Points to a difference: surplus = have − need (52 − 40 = 12). The opposite of shortage. Trap: if the need is bigger there is no surplus but a shortage. Pronounced «SUR-plus».

### In the corpora

- [Children = (surplus + shortage) / (difference per child); the pencils are 7 × 3 + 5 = 26.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/lessons/174-surplus-and-shortage/4/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «surplus» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/surplus/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.