needlessly
Americanadverb
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.
Dario was horrified as he watched his colleagues be fired one by one, which he considered needlessly cruel.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
Wingtech representatives responded that the Dutch intervention was "incomprehensible" and meant the row "degenerated needlessly".
From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026
Drummond tells Milchick to apologize for using “a needlessly complex word for a simple idea.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 17, 2025
This backsliding flies in the face of how much progress has been made to stop people from dying needlessly.
From Salon • Nov. 19, 2025
“Have you always been that way?” asked Milo impatiently, for he felt that that was a needlessly fine distinction.
From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster
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.
