unnecessary
[uhn-nes-uh-ser-ee]
- not necessary or essential; needless; unessential.
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- unnecessaries, things that are not necessary or essential.
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Origin of unnecessary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for unnecessarily
Contemporary Examples
In other words, unnecessarily stringent abortion regulation could be far more dangerous than abortion itself.
Forty million Americans were inoculated, unnecessarily as it turned out.
He also found the president and vice president to be unnecessarily distrustful of the military.
Speed Read: Juiciest Bits From Secretary of Defense Bob Gates’ ‘Duty’William O’Connor
January 8, 2014
The Obama administration argued that Kirk-Menendez was unnecessarily confrontational and encroached on presidential authority.
Like her song, the performance was a bloated, unnecessarily busy mess.
Historical Examples
"You are unnecessarily alarmed, my dear young lady," he said.
Jolly Sally PendletonLaura Jean Libbey
The scout, entering, found a cheerful, unnecessarily large fire.
The Long RollMary Johnston
She dismounted—lifted down (so unnecessarily it seemed) by the rogue.
PipefulsChristopher Morley
"I'm ready," he announced, rising from his chair so that he jostled Fulton unnecessarily.
The Winning ClueJames Hay, Jr.
Still, Louise had been alarmed, unnecessarily so, Mrs. Pennypoker had told her.
In Blue Creek CaonAnna Chapin Ray
unnecessary
- not necessary
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for unnecessarily
unnecessary
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper