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 though he made another unnecessary and way too premature prediction that this season’s Dodgers won’t three-peat, at least he said “they appear headed for an early fall.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
She too has been told by the trust that her breast removal was unnecessary.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Warsh told you this was coming at Jackson Hole, when he flipped the Fed’s default from hold unless the data forces a move to raise unless the data makes it unnecessary.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
One patient said she believed the drug had made her infertile, while another developed leukaemia after 100 unnecessary cycles.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
“No, you’ll need him,” Lady Meng said, “and I will not. And considering where I am going, he would only draw unnecessary attention to me.”
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
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
On Thursday, August 5th, the Regiment sorrowfully packed up all unnecessaries and piled them in the regimental dump.
From The Tale of a Trooper by Clutha N. (Clutha Nantes) Mackenzie
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
We also had enough unnecessaries to bring us to grief in a couple of weeks.
From Tracks of a Rolling Stone by Henry J. (Henry John) Coke
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.
