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Definition of surfeit in English:

surfeit

Pronunciation /ˈsərfət/

See synonyms for surfeit

Translate surfeit into Spanish

noun

usually in singular

  • 1An excessive amount of something.

    ‘ a surfeit of food and drink’
    • ‘As someone with a surfeit of embarrassing '80s hairstyle photo evidence I am all in favour of today's youth facing similar consequences.’
    • ‘That's no mean boast, since there's a surfeit of super-featherweight talent around.’
    • ‘There is nothing in the income tax legislation that precludes people from paying extra taxes as they want to, voluntarily, and I am sure Treasury would not be embarrassed by a surfeit of cheques.’
    • ‘The failure to laugh signifies in the peasant or the Frenchman a politeness that exceeds his intelligence, in the landowner or the Englishman an excessive rigidity, and in the policeman or the German a surfeit of power.’
    • ‘Riders who live here, meanwhile, will enjoy a surfeit of buses, in an effort by the transit system to let municipalities and developers know that compliance with regional growth strategy will be rewarded.’
    • ‘Line-ups, unpredictable travel paths, and a surfeit of available activities add up to an unplannable day, an unkeepable schedule, and an unsatisfying level of achievement by the end of the day.’
    • ‘While Christmas on my own has been immensely relaxing, you may be able to ascertain that I'm getting to the stage where a surfeit of my own company means that as soon as I sit down at a keyboard and start to type, a sudden verbal splurge results.’
    • ‘As the production gags on a surfeit of imagination, you find yourself filling in an imaginary multiple-choice list, ticking off the useful and crossing out the padding.’
    • ‘Of course, Washington's profligate political class eagerly engaged in deficit spending to provide a surfeit of public-sector debt to close this circle.’
    • ‘It is a moot point whether corporations and companies that sink so much into supporting televised sport in the form of commercials are really benefiting in this age of a surfeit of everything, from goods to sport.’
    • ‘Even with such a surfeit of channels, democratic choices will be, to a large extent, restricted to those privileged citizens who can buy access to more than just the free-to-air channels.’
    • ‘The newly promoted person may also attempt to minimize the status difference through self-deprecation and a surfeit of leniency toward the new supervisees.’
    • ‘Despite a deficit of information and a surfeit of speculation about this tragic incident, the mainstream media did not hesitate to jump to all the familiar, poisonous conclusions.’
    • ‘Shakespeare has him poisoned by a monk, though in reality he died, like so many medieval kings, from eating too much, stuffing his face with ‘a surfeit of peaches and new cider’.’
    • ‘There is a surfeit of news these days - a string of dramatic, violent, terrible events being played out almost simultaneously in different parts of the world.’
    • ‘Viewers have a surfeit of choice these days when it comes to watching TV - why should we all be commanded to pay a chunk to the BBC, given changes in media consumption trends?’
    • ‘The United States seemed to be suffering from a surfeit of power, which made it difficult for elites to formulate any coherent principles for its use.’
    • ‘The silence was not due to moral paucity, but to a surfeit of principle - one must never, under any circumstances, compromise one's political neutrality.’
    • ‘If all else fails, you can always just eat the table decorations, since it seems that every festive table these days plays host to a generous bowl of fruit and nuts and a surfeit of chocolates.’
    • ‘There is a surfeit of civic pride - not to mention the odd attack of the giggles - when the new Mayor of Blackrod and his Mayoress are invited to attend local events.’
    excess, surplus, abundance, oversupply, superabundance, superfluity, overdose, glut, avalanche, deluge
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1archaic An illness caused or regarded as being caused by excessive eating or drinking.
      ‘he died of a surfeit’
      • ‘In the current affluent West, where surfeit is a far more common phenomenon than famine, excess flesh and lack of bodily ‘fitness’ is interpreted as a sign of laxity, overindulgence and weak will.’

transitive verbsurfeits, surfeiting, surfeited

[with object]usually be surfeited with

  • 1Cause (someone) to desire no more of something as a result of having consumed or done it to excess.

    ‘I am surfeited with shopping’
    • ‘There was a time when the Cardinals were so successful that the fans, like Atlanta's today, became surfeited with victory.’
    satiate, gorge, overfeed, overfill, glut, cram, stuff, overindulge, fill
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1archaic no object Consume too much of something.
      • ‘he never surfeited on rich wine’

Origin

Middle English from Old French, based on Latin super- ‘above, in excess’ + facere ‘do’.