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Surplus

Economics
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An amount remaining after needs, costs, or obligations have been met.

Detailed Definition
A surplus is an excess beyond what is required, whether in goods, revenue, food, labor, or trade. Poets may use it to question who defines enough and who controls what remains. A field overflowing with grain can exist beside hunger, making surplus an especially sharp term for examining distribution. It can also suggest emotional abundance, where generosity resists the fearful accounting of scarcity.
Example
Example in poetry:
A harvest poem describes bins overflowing with apples, making surplus a concrete image of abundance; The speaker sees a supermarket discard unsold food and questions why surplus exists beside hunger; In a war poem, a surplus of weapons contrasts bitterly with a shortage of safety; A poet can use surplus emotion, such as too much grief or joy, to borrow the economic term for an inner condition
Additional Notes
A surplus can describe extra goods, government revenue beyond spending, or a remaining balance. Its opposite is a deficit, when needs exceed available resources.
Also Known As
Excess Oversupply extry
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