unnecessarily
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From unnecessary + -ly or un- + necessarily.
Adverb
[edit]unnecessarily (comparative more unnecessarily, superlative most unnecessarily)
- In an unnecessary way; not by necessity.
- Synonyms: needlessly, pointlessly, uselessly, for no reason
- He unnecessarily repeated much of what others had covered.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- There be […] lords that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo;
- 1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison[1], London, Volume 1, Letter 33, p. 235:
- Pray let not any-body unnecessarily be acquainted with this shocking affair;
- 1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “A Crisis”, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC, pages 113-114:
- “Wait a moment,” said he, quite unnecessarily, for she could not have stirred;
- 1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 17, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe[2], New York: Macmillan:
- […] they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down,
- To an extent beyond what is needed.
- Synonym: unduly
- The food provided was unnecessarily generous, especially for an event meant to raise money for the hungry.
- 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations[3], London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 5, Part 1, pp. 307-308:
- In the days of their [the Roman armies’] grandeur, when no enemy appeared capable of opposing them, their heavy armour was laid aside as unnecessarily burdensome, their laborious exercises were neglected as unnecessarily toilsome.
- 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 245:
- His absence was unnecessarily long.
- 1957 September, E. W. P. Veale, “The Marlow & Henley Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 656:
- About the turn of the century, the company had several ambitious and costly plans in hand—including direct lines to the West Country, South Wales and Birmingham—and so had no wish to incur additional expenditure unnecessarily.
- 2007, Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader[4], New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2008, page 28:
- […] it seemed that she used his name unnecessarily often,
- 2021 February 7, Daniel Kreps, “Watch ‘Saturday Night Live’ Skewer Super Bowl Sunday”, in Rolling Stone[5], archived from the original on 7 August 2022:
- The pregame crew then showed a pair of faux-Super Bowl ads, including an unnecessarily woke Cheez-It commercial and a Papa John’s ad that fully embraces Pizzagaters.
Antonyms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]in an unnecessary way
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