extraneous, a.
(ɛkˈstreɪnɪəs)
[f. L. extrāne-us external (f. extrā outside) + -ous. (Cf. strange, ad. OF. estrange:—L. extrāneus.)]
1. a. Of external origin; introduced or added from without; foreign to the object in which it is contained, or to which it is attached.
| 1638 A. Read Chirurg. ix. 67 Such medicaments ought not onely to consume the extraneous humidity, but the natural also. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxv. §8 Relation..though it be not contained in the real existence of Things, but something extraneous, and superinduced. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. iv. iv. 358 Fossil, or, as they are called, extraneous shells. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 306 An extraneous body can be..easily introduced into their bladder. 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1873) 183 Many objects are made venerable by extraneous circumstances. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 187, I sought in vain..for a single fragment of any extraneous rock. 1879 Stainer Music of Bible 159 A slight melodic framework, almost hidden beneath a load of extraneous graces. |
b. Of an action, etc.: Proceeding from without.
| 1786 Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 184 Hastings did for a long time..attribute the weakness of his government to an extraneous interference. 1834 J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 26 The..application of the naked ear..gives rise to extraneous sounds. 1862 Marsh Eng. Lang ii. 40 The Low-German dialects were..exposed to extraneous disturbing forces. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 120 Excluding extraneous light. |
c. nonce-use. Brought from abroad, ‘exotic’.
| c 1750 Shenstone Elegies xviii. 58 Rob'd in the Gallic loom's extraneous twine. |
2. a. External to, not comprised in or forming part of, the object under consideration.
| 1662 Bates in Pepys Diary 17 Aug., It is not my manner to speak anything in the pulpit that is extraneous to my text and business. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxxi. §4 When ever the Mind refers any of its Ideas to any thing extraneous to them, they are then capable to be called true or false. 1794 Paley Evid. Wks. 1825 II. 377 Of points clearly extraneous to the religion, nothing need be said. 1865 Maffei Brigand Life II. 121 The question of brigandage being extraneous to all political controversies. |
b. Of a person: Not belonging to a specified community, country, or family.
| a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 212 Heathens and Infidels are excluded from this Table, because they are extraneous and without. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 376/1 If at any time there were any extraneous..persons amongst them, the Men..signify'd their meaning to one another by Symbols. 1842 Arnold Lect. Mod. Hist. iii. 187 It has..to feed one or more extraneous persons besides. a 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ii. (1872) 20 Nearly all who are of the world are extraneous to it [the church]. |
† c. Foreign in nature, having nothing in common. Obs. rare.
| 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. iv. 74 Mercury one thing, and Sulpher another, as extraneous bodies one to another. |
d. Mus. (See quots.)
| 1801 T. Busby Dict. Mus., Extraneous, an epithet applied to those sharps and flats, and those chords and modulations, which, forsaking the natural course of the diatonic intervals, digress into abstruse and chromatic evolutions of melody and harmony. 1839 [see modulation 4 c]. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 162/1 Extraneous modulation, a modulation to an extreme or unrelated key. Ibid. 295/1 When a remote key is reached by relative keys, the modulation is by some said to be extraneous. 1938 Oxf. Compan. Mus. 590/1 Beethoven.., on occasion, leapt, with little notice to the listener, into unrelated keys (Extraneous Modulation). |
Hence exˈtraneously adv.; exˈtraneousness, the quality or state of being extraneous.
| 1755 E. Law Th. Relig. iii. 237 note, By their being extraneously overruled. 1881 Westcott & Hort Grk. N.T. II. Notes 44 Without giving any sign of extraneousness. |