What's the difference between pointless and superfluous?

Pointless


Definition:

  • (a.) Having no point; blunt; wanting keenness; obtuse; as, a pointless sword; a pointless remark.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The citizenship debate is tawdry, conflated and ultimately pointless | Richard Ackland Read more On Wednesday, the prime minister criticised lawyers for backing terrorists.
  • (2) It’s the same story over and over.” Children’s author Philip Ardagh , who told the room he once worked as an “unprofessional librarian” in Lewisham, said: “Closing down a library is like filing off the end of a swordfish’s nose: pointless.” 'Speak up before there's nothing left': authors rally for National Libraries Day Read more “Today proves that support for public libraries comes from all walks of life and it’s not rocket science to work out why.
  • (3) But now the document turns crazily surreal, like the pointless war itself.
  • (4) And David Ngog was a pointless signing too – one which puzzled us all.
  • (5) "It is pointless to think sovereign bond rates could be brought down for an extended period of time by outside interventions," said Draghi.
  • (6) They aren't pointless; apart from any craft they may teach, they can also offer connections and contacts – a "way in" – which is the modern essential of anyone trying to start a career.
  • (7) An Australian family that lost three children and a grandfather in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has published an emotional tribute calling for an end to the “pointless war” in eastern Ukraine.
  • (8) People are criticising what we are doing as pointless and saying we won’t achieve anything, but history has shown us that is not the case,” student leader Joshua Wong told the crowd last week.
  • (9) It is pointless to go back over the missed opportunities, but an essential part of the design of this regional conference is that it should be able to be supported by Russia and China as well as the US.
  • (10) Hoodies don't vote, they've realised it's pointless, that whoever gets elected will just be a different shade of the "we don't give a toss about you" party.
  • (11) Bojórquez, the editor, says that for the moment the risks are manageable within his commitment to the idea that journalism is pointless unless it informs.
  • (12) The others are either infuriatingly vague (“An NHS with time to care”) or pointlessly catch-all (“A country where the next generation can do better than the last”).
  • (13) Especially when there’s no funeral to go to, just an endless stream of pointless review meetings.
  • (14) "If this doesn't bring down mortgage rates for 95% loans then the whole thing is completely pointless," he said.
  • (15) To express guarded optimism about the Greek deal is not to condone the provocative arrogance of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis or the pointless vindictiveness of the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble .
  • (16) The PCC came under fire last week from the editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, who branded its report on phone hacking at the News of the World "worse than pointless".
  • (17) 3 Don’t be afraid to talk about corruption Poverty overseas is often associated with corruption: 67% of the British public think that government corruption makes donating to reduce poverty “pointless” (up from 48% in 2008), according to research from Jennifer and David Hudson.
  • (18) But it's a pointless endeavour if the fundraising activity contributes to and compounds the culture in which our breasts are only relevant if they're being admired by someone else's eyes.
  • (19) Quibbling over whether fashion is more or less important than art is just as pointless as questioning whether or not it is art.
  • (20) Why should Paris or Berlin waste political capital - they have suspicious voters too - on concessions to Britain when it may all be pointless?

Superfluous


Definition:

  • (a.) More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive; as, a superfluous price.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The tetracaine component of TAC is superfluous for obtaining topical anesthesia of minor dermal lacerations of the face in children.
  • (2) If exact indications are present, it can make a surgical intervention superfluous in selected cases.
  • (3) The surgical coordinates of the targets based on the stereotactic CT study with the Stereoadapter were on average as accurate as those obtained with ventriculography; therefore, ventriculography may become superfluous in functional stereotaxis.
  • (4) In many cases, the diagnosis is delayed, often being made only after comprehensive superfluous diagnostic procedures, sometimes invasive, and inappropriate treatment.
  • (5) 62 min Spain make a double substitution: Jesus Navas replaces the superfluous Sergio Busquets, and Fernando Torres replaces the disappointing David Silva.
  • (6) Tell me what will happen when the majority of mankind has become technologically superfluous."
  • (7) It is assumed that the neurotizing agent was the superfluous situational (photic) stimulation which presented excessive requirements to the mechanisms regulating the general functional state of the brain.
  • (8) Seen from the father's point of view, the son, on one hand represents the only solution for continuation of his life, the only possibility of victory over death, on the other hand however, he will substitute him one day, make him superfluous and eventually take his place.
  • (9) Feathering may be considered as a safety margin against spinal cord damage in medulloblastoma but it is superfluous in leukemia.
  • (10) In a later press statement, the Department of Health described the change as "a deep clean of superfluous national targets in favour of clearer, simpler standards".
  • (11) The great advances made in orthopaedic surgery over the last few decades have however not resulted in rehabilitative activity having become superfluous.
  • (12) Among reasons for inadequate numbers of doctors the author mentions in particular superfluous consulting, examinations in conjunction with assessment of the work capacity, and administrative work done by many doctors.
  • (13) Why, they ask, spend scarce public money on something that is both superfluous as a transport link and vastly expensive as a park?
  • (14) The effects of cue-load and cue-type (category and rhyming) on the cued recall of word lists were examined in amnesic and control subjects under conditions where contextual information was either important or superfluous to recall.
  • (15) For this reason a possible tooth involvement should be ruled out before therapy, loss of dental pulp of various origin and periodontal diseases should be excluded, otherwise the treatment must begin with the cause, after which further intervention is usually superfluous.
  • (16) Offering to these patients an adrenal autograft represents more than a superfluous medical exercise, since a successful outcome of the graft will relieve them of the burdens and risks of long-term postoperative steroid replacement therapy.
  • (17) The data obtained are suggestive of some "superfluity" of the protein steroid-binding site which, in turn, ensures the multifunctionality of estrophilic HSD including a possibility of an alternative orientation of steroids in their binding site.
  • (18) The findings of a questionnaire in 88 patients with 106 prostheses are presented, according to which substitution of the testis with a prosthesis is not a superfluous therapeutic procedure.
  • (19) Analysis of serial sections, and application of electron microscopic radioautography and histochemistry have suggested that these structures are associated with the nuclear envelope which is necessary for regulating the superfluous chromosome localization in the hybrid nucleus.
  • (20) Thus, the costly defibrillators delivering 400 to 800 joules now sold by 11 of 14 American manufacturers are superfluous, untested, potentially lethal devices with which to attempt ventricular defibrillation.