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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.

The company, for example, called the separation of the roles of broker, exchange, and custodian into different firms a “a legacy of a paper-based system” unnecessary in the tokenized universe.

From Barron's

These are often benign but can lead to anxiety and unnecessary additional tests.

From The Wall Street Journal

The government also called on people to "ride bicycles, carpool, use public transport, and restrict personal vehicle use when unnecessary".

From BBC

He said: "I just want to say to those families that I deeply regret the circumstances by which over the last 24 hours they have had this unnecessary anxiety."

From BBC

“All the Gulf countries agree that this war is unnecessary,” said Althunayyan of Kuwait University.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.