unnecessarily

English

Etymology

unnecessary +‎ -ly

Adverb

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 606515358, [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, 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 83344188, page 113-114:
  “Wait a moment,” said he, quite unnecessarily, for she could not have stirred;
- 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, New York: Macmillan, Chapter 17,
  […] 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, 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 July, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224, page 245:
  His absence was unnecessarily long.
- 2007, Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, p. 28,
  […] it seemed that she used his name unnecessarily often,

Antonyms

necessarily

Related terms

unnecessary
necessarily

Translations

in an unnecessary way

Catalan: innecessàriament
Dutch: onnodig (nl)
Estonian: asjata
French: inutilement (fr), gratuitement (fr)
Galician: innecesariamente
German: unnötigerweise (de)
Occitan: innecessàriament
Polish: niekoniecznie (pl)
Romanian: în mod nenecesar
Slovak: zbytočne
Spanish: innecesariamente
Swedish: onödigtvis (sv), i onödan (sv)
Telugu: అనవసరంగా (anavasaraṅgā)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: overbodig (nl)
Swedish: onödigt (sv)