unnecessary
UK/ʌnˈnɛs.ə.s(ə)ɹɪ//ʌnˈnɛs.əˌsɛɹ.i/
unnecessary adjective: not needed or necessary.
Adjective
unnecessary (comparative more unnecessary, superlative most unnecessary)
- Not needed or necessary.
- The automatic child-frightener made clowns unnecessary.
- Every possible economy was carefully investigated and unnecessary expense, however small, eliminated. The company had no money to spare on "frills."1956 September, 'Precursor', “The Dursley & Midland Junction Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 599
- Synonyms:
- superfluous, unneeded, needless, innecessary
- Done in addition to requirements; unrequired.
- Synonyms:
- additional, innecessary
unnecessary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
unnecessary in Hindi
- not necessary
- अनावश्यक anāvaśyak
unnecessary in Tamil
- தேவையற்ற
unnecessary in Marathi
- unnecessary, unneeded
- अनावश्यक anāvaśyak
- unnecessary, uncalled-for
- निरर्थक nirarthak
unnecessary in Urdu
- not necessary
- خواہ مخواہ xāh maxāh
More languagesFewer languages
- unnecessary in Bengali
- অকারণ okaron, ফালতু phaltu, আজুড়ে ajuṛe, আজাইড়া ajaiṛa
- unnecessary in Telugu
- అనవసరము anavasaramu
- unnecessary in Malayalam
- അനാവശ്യ anāvaśya, അനാവശ്യമായ anāvaśyamāya
- unnecessary in Kannada
- ಬೇಡದ, ಬೇಡದಿರುವ, ಬೇಕಾಗಿಲ್ಲದ, ಬಳಸಲಾಗದ
- unnecessary in Punjabi
- ਬੇਲੋਡ਼ੀ, ਬੇਲੋਡ਼ਾ
- unnecessary in Gujarati
- બિનજરૂરી
- unnecessary in Odia
- ଅନାବଶ୍ଯ଼କ, ଅନାବଶ୍ଯ଼କ |
- unnecessary in Assamese
- বাজে baze
- unnecessary in Nepali
- अनावश्यक
- unnecessary in Arabic
- غَيْر ضَرُورِيّ ḡayr ḍarūriyy
Examples of unnecessary in a sentence
- Robins, of Torquay, had denied a single charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian:
- Yet some of the statin side effects mentioned in the study have not been proved in the scientific literature or are exaggerated and could cause unnecessary worry, he said.2018 December 3, Jacqueline Howard, “Are statins overprescribed? Why the risks and benefits are so complex”, in CNN:
Synonyms of unnecessary
Antonyms
Forms of unnecessary
| comparative | more unnecessary |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unnecessary |
Origin of unnecessary
From un- + necessary.
Words formed from unnecessary
Questions about unnecessary
- What does unnecessary mean?
- Unnecessary means not needed or necessary.
- What is unnecessary in Hindi?
- Unnecessary in Hindi is अनावश्यक (anāvaśyak). See Unnecessary meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use unnecessary in a sentence?
- Robins, of Torquay, had denied a single charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
- What part of speech is unnecessary?
- Unnecessary is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce unnecessary?
- Unnecessary is pronounced /ʌnˈnɛs.ə.s(ə)ɹɪ/ (UK).
Words near unnecessary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unnecessary (page history and authors); unnecessary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अनावश्यक (Marathi) (page history and authors); অকারণ (Bengali) (page history and authors); అనవసరము (Telugu) (page history and authors); unnecessary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unnecessary (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unnecessary (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unnecessary (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); বাজে (Assamese) (page history and authors); अनावश्यक (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-unnecessary.ogg, en-au-unnecessary.ogg.
Cite this entry: “unnecessary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unnecessary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.