Borrowing fromLate Latinsuperficiālis(“of or belonging to the surface”), fromsuperficiēs(“top, surface”) +-ālis(“-al”,adjectival suffix).
superficial (comparativemoresuperficial,superlativemostsuperficial)
- (relational)Existing,occurring, orlocated on thesurface.
- Synonym:surficial
- (anatomy, relational, often withto) Closer to the surface of thebody; especially,situated oroccurring on theskin or immediatelybeneath it.
- Antonym:deep
superficial muscles
The epidermis issuperficial to the subcutis.
2018 November 8, Dr. Melina Jampolis, “The real science behind fascia ailments”, inCNN[1]:Thesuperficial fascia surrounds the body and includes subcutaneous fat; the deep fascia surrounds the musculoskeletal system; the meningeal fascia surrounds the nervous system; the visceral fascia surrounds body cavities and organs.
- Appearing to betrue orreal only untilexamined moreclosely.
- Synonym:external
- Notthorough,deep, orcomplete;concerned only with theobvious orapparent.
- Synonyms:cursory,skin-deep,surface-level
- Antonyms:in-depth,thorough
1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster,The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.:Field Museum of Natural History,→ISBN, page vii:Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections, rather thansuperficial study of every packet that comes to hand.
- Lackingdepth ofcharacter orunderstanding; lackingsubstance orsignificance.
- Synonym:shallow
- Antonym:substantive
2014,"Little Green Men": A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014[2],Fort Bragg, North Carolina:The United States Army Special Operations Command, page43:These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—howeversuperficial or implausible—for Moscow.40
- (rare)Two-dimensional; drawn on aflatsurface.
- (British, architecture)Denoting aquantity of amaterial expressed in terms ofarea covered rather thanlineardimension orvolume.
- Synonym:square
onesuperficial foot
existing or located on the surface
on or immediately beneath the skin
not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent
lacking understanding or substance
two-dimensional, drawn on a flat surface
architecture: denoting a quantity in terms of area
superficial (pluralsuperficials)
- (usually in theplural) Asurfacedetail.
He always concentrates on thesuperficials and fails to see the real issue.
Borrowed fromLatinsuperficiālis.
superficial m orf (masculine and feminine pluralsuperficials)
- superficial
FromLatinsuperficiālis.
- IPA(key): /supeɾfiˈθjal/[s̺u.peɾ.fiˈθjɑɫ]
- IPA(key): (standard)/supeɾfiˈθjal/[s̺u.peɾ.fiˈθjɑɫ]
- IPA(key): (seseo)/supeɾfiˈsjal/[su.peɾ.fiˈsjɑɫ]
- Rhymes:-al
- Hyphenation:su‧per‧fi‧cial
superficial m orf (pluralsuperficiais)
- superficial
- surficial; of thesurface
superficial (not comparable)
- superficial(pertaining to the surface)
Learned borrowing fromLatinsuperficiālis. Bysurface analysis,superfície +-al.
- (Brazil)IPA(key): /su.peʁ.fi.siˈaw/[su.peh.fi.sɪˈaʊ̯],(faster pronunciation)/su.peʁ.fiˈsjaw/[su.peh.fiˈsjaʊ̯]
- (Brazil)IPA(key): /su.peʁ.fi.siˈaw/[su.peh.fi.sɪˈaʊ̯],(faster pronunciation)/su.peʁ.fiˈsjaw/[su.peh.fiˈsjaʊ̯]
- (São Paulo)IPA(key): /su.peɾ.fi.siˈaw/[su.peɾ.fi.sɪˈaʊ̯],(faster pronunciation)/su.peɾ.fiˈsjaw/[su.peɾ.fiˈsjaʊ̯]
- (Rio de Janeiro)IPA(key): /su.peʁ.fi.siˈaw/[su.peχ.fi.sɪˈaʊ̯],(faster pronunciation)/su.peʁ.fiˈsjaw/[su.peχ.fiˈsjaʊ̯]
- (Southern Brazil)IPA(key): /su.peɻ.fi.siˈaw/[su.peɻ.fi.sɪˈaʊ̯],(faster pronunciation)/su.peɻ.fiˈsjaw/[su.peɻ.fiˈsjaʊ̯]
- Rhymes:(Portugal)-al,(Brazil)-aw
- Hyphenation:su‧per‧fi‧ci‧al
superficial m orf (pluralsuperficiais)
- superficial(comprising a surface)
- camadasuperficial ―surface layer
- superficial;shallow(not reaching or penetrating deep)
- feridasuperficial ―superficial wound
- shallow(overly concerned with superficial matters)
- pessoasuperficial ―shallow person
- superficial(lacking thoroughness or attention to minor details)
- análisesuperficial ―superficial analysis
Borrowed fromFrenchsuperficiel. Bysurface analysis,superficie +-al.
superficial m orn (feminine singularsuperficială,masculine pluralsuperficiali,feminine and neuter pluralsuperficiale)
- shallow(about people)
Borrowed fromLatinsuperficiālis.
- IPA(key): (Spain)/supeɾfiˈθjal/[su.peɾ.fiˈθjal]
- IPA(key): (Latin America, Philippines)/supeɾfiˈsjal/[su.peɾ.fiˈsjal]
- Rhymes:-al
- Syllabification:su‧per‧fi‧cial
superficial m orf (masculine and feminine pluralsuperficiales)
- superficial
- shallow(lackingsubstance)
- Antonym:profundo
