needn't
AmericanUsage
See contraction.
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.
This capacity for solidarity-building is the true transformative power of political cinema, which needn’t persuade us that we are all alike so much as show us that in our differences we remain connected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Elaine said: "Me and all the family have got to live with that, knowing that he probably needn't have died. He was a fit, well man on the outside."
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
One of the most brilliant aspects of “Maddie’s Secret” is that one needn’t be familiar with TV movies to find Early’s film funny or entertaining.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
With the exception of the rise of the Greens in Britain, these developments needn’t be bad news for the U.S. or for American strategic interests in Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
‘A nasty end, and I wish I needn’t have seen it; but it’s a good riddance.’
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
