unnecessary
Americanadjective
noun
-
unnecessaries
plural
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of unnecessary
Explanation
Anything that is extra or not needed is unnecessary. Wearing long underwear in July is an unnecessary precaution against being cold. If you don't need something, it's unnecessary. You take an unnecessary risk if you get in the car and don't bother to fasten your seatbelt. Driving your car when you could ride a bike instead is an unnecessary use of gasoline. If you keep dropping you pen in class, your teacher might say, "That's unnecessary." Walking your dog with two leashes is definitely unnecessary. That's obvious, but lots of times it's hard to tell what's necessary and what's unnecessary.
Vocabulary lists containing unnecessary
List 3
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List 9
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Even with an unnecessary roughness penalty in the fourth, Shelley made his reps count, making five tackles and breaking up a deep pass from Rams quarterback Ty Simpson intended for Tyler Scott.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Such guessing will lead to unnecessary volatility in the fixed-income markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Passing sentence, Judge Lord Scott said Moy's death was "pointless and unnecessary".
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
It’s frustrating and unnecessary; it’s also not about me.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
My mom put a little bell on his collar so we always knew where he was, which was unnecessary because he never left my side.
From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda
There are some great songs on it, but they're smothered in unnecessaries that made it really cloudy.
From The Guardian ● May 23, 2013
She has the air of somebody who has reached a point in her life where she is dispensing with the unnecessaries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Now, how luxurious, how stuffed with shameful, wasteful unnecessaries those drawers and closets seemed!
From Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise by David Graham Phillips
I say, pater, do come up while I toss a few unnecessaries into my case.—That's right, Brown; put my bag in my room.
From The Parts Men Play by Arthur Beverley Baxter
Boroskie, thou art a Knave; it contains nothing But rubbish from the other rooms and unnecessaries: Will't please you see a strange Clock?
From Beaumont & Fletcher's Works (3 of 10): The Loyal Subject by Francis Beaumont
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
