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Synonyms

unnecessary

American  
[uhn-nes-uh-ser-ee] / ʌnˈnɛs əˌsɛr i /

adjective

  1. not necessary or essential; needless; unessential.


noun

plural

unnecessaries
  1. unnecessaries, things that are not necessary or essential.

unnecessary British  
/ ʌnˈnɛsɪsərɪ, -ɪsrɪ /

adjective

  1. not necessary

"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

Other Word Forms

  • unnecessarily adverb
  • unnecessariness noun

Etymology

Origin of unnecessary

First recorded in 1540–50; un- 1 + necessary

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 means they help the immune system distinguish between harmful threats and harmless targets, preventing unnecessary attacks on the body's own cells, helpful microbes, and everyday foods.

From Science Daily

While the gut microbiome does play a crucial role in our wellbeing, evidence for many of these fixes is thin and for most healthy people, obsessing over gut "healing" may be unnecessary.

From BBC

Most folks still thought a bathroom inside the house was unnecessary, expensive, maybe even unsanitary, though Aunt Pretty sighed a lot when she read about big-city houses with indoor plumbing and wringer washers and iceboxes.

From Literature

Cardiff council said fly-tipping was "completely unnecessary" and cost taxpayers a significant amount of money each year.

From BBC

His son David speculated that his dad’s mixed feelings about his fast-food career stemmed from a mentality common among children of the Depression: “Excess bothered them. It almost seemed profligate and unnecessary,” he explained.

From The Wall Street Journal