What does the word superfluous mean in the passage below?

The editorial board removed three chapters from the manuscript, judging the detailed technical appendices to be superfluous to the book's core narrative.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. unnecessary and exceeding what is required

  1. Step 1: Analyze context: the board excised chapters because they added non-essential details beyond what the core narrative required.
  2. Step 2: 'Superfluous' means more than is needed, unnecessary, or redundant.
Answer
unnecessary and exceeding what is required.
Why not the others: 'essential to the coherence of the argument' is the exact antonym; 'deeply offensive and ethically unacceptable' describes offensive content; 'factually inaccurate and misleading' refers to falsehood rather than redundancy.

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