Dictionary

unnecessarily en · ADV

Etymology

From unnecessary + -ly or un- + necessarily.

Meanings

1. In an unnecessary way; not by necessity.
   • “Wait a moment,” said he, quite unnecessarily, for she could not have stirred; 1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “A Crisis”, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC, pages 113-114:
   • Pray let not any-body unnecessarily be acquainted with this shocking affair; 1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 1, Letter 33, p. 235:
   • […] they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down, 1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 17, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, New York: Macmillan:
   • There be […] lords that can prate As amply and unnecessarily As this Gonzalo; 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
   • He unnecessarily repeated much of what others had covered.
2. To an extent beyond what is needed.
   • […] it seemed that she used his name unnecessarily often, 2007, Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2008, page 28:
   • The food provided was unnecessarily generous, especially for an event meant to raise money for the hungry.
   • The pregame crew then showed a pair of faux-Super Bowl ads, including an unnecessarily woke Cheez-It commercial and a Papa John’s ad that fully embraces Pizzagaters. 2021 February 7, Daniel Kreps, “Watch ‘Saturday Night Live’ Skewer Super Bowl Sunday”, in Rolling Stone, archived from the original on 07 Aug 2022:
   • In the days of their [the Roman armies’] grandeur, when no enemy appeared capable of opposing them, their heavy armour was laid aside as unnecessarily burdensome, their laborious exercises were neglected as unnecessarily toilsome. 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 5, Part 1, pp. 307-308:
   • His absence was unnecessarily long. 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 245:
   • About the turn of the century, the company had several ambitious and costly plans in hand—including direct lines to the West Country, South Wales and Birmingham—and so had no wish to incur additional expenditure unnecessarily. 1957 September 14, E. W. P. Veale, “The Marlow & Henley Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 656:

Forms

Antonyms

necessarily

Relateds

necessarily · unnecessary

Synonyms

for no reason · needlessly · uselessly · unduly · pointlessly

Translations (22)

sk zbytočne (in an unnecessary way) · fr inutilement (in an unnecessary way) · sv i onödan (in an unnecessary way) · nl onnodig (in an unnecessary way) · et asjata (in an unnecessary way) · ro în mod nenecesar (in an unnecessary way) · gl innecesariamente (in an unnecessary way) · te అనవసరంగా (in an unnecessary way) · fr gratuitement (in an unnecessary way) · it inutilmente (in an unnecessary way) · hu feleslegesen (in an unnecessary way) · bgc खामखा (in an unnecessary way) · oc innecessàriament (in an unnecessary way) · es innecesariamente (in an unnecessary way) · hu szükségtelenül (in an unnecessary way) · ca innecessàriament (in an unnecessary way) · de unnötigerweise (in an unnecessary way) · sv onödigtvis (in an unnecessary way) · pl niekoniecznie (in an unnecessary way) · fi tarpeettomasti (in an unnecessary way) · eo nenecese (in an unnecessary way) · hi अनावश्यक (in an unnecessary way)