| / English Dictionary |
UNNECESSARY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not necessary
Synonyms:
unnecessary; unneeded
Classified under:
Similar:
excess; extra; redundant; spare; supererogatory; superfluous; supernumerary; surplus (more than is needed, desired, or required)
gratuitous; needless; uncalled-for (unnecessary and unwarranted)
inessential (not absolutely necessary)
spare (kept in reserve especially for emergency use)
Also:
inessential; unessential (not basic or fundamental)
Attribute:
necessity (the condition of being essential or indispensable)
Antonym:
necessary (absolutely essential)
Context examples:
“Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to this floor.”
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Adding too much nitrogen costs farmers money in unnecessary input to soil.
(New Test Can Determine Nitrogen Levels in Soil, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
I should have protested against this unnecessary demonstration in my honour, but that I saw Peggotty, on the opposite side of the bed, extremely anxious I should not.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He went to the door and opened it; a most unnecessary proceeding it seemed to me.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
"It would be most distressing, and, I assure you, really it is unnecessary."
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
My good sir, said Mr. Cunningham with some impatience, this is surely very unnecessary.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She could not but consider it as absolutely unnecessary, and even improper, that Fanny should have a regular lady's horse of her own, in the style of her cousins.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
The astrocytes' job is to prune unnecessary synapses (connections) in the brain to refresh and reshape its wiring.
(Lack of Sleep Makes Brain to Literally Eat Itself, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
A preface to the first edition of "Jane Eyre" being unnecessary, I gave none: this second edition demands a few words both of acknowledgment and miscellaneous remark.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Their style is clear, masculine, and smooth, but not florid; for they avoid nothing more than multiplying unnecessary words, or using various expressions.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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