unnecessarily

adverb

un·​nec·​es·​sar·​i·​ly ˌən-ˌne-sə-ˈser-ə-lē 

: not by necessity : to an unnecessary degree

unnecessarily harsh criticism

Examples of unnecessarily in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hood and others see this as not just an attempt to right-size environmental rules that had become unnecessarily burdensome, but a massive chipping away at environmental safeguards that kept our public lands and waters relatively intact. —Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 8 Apr. 2026

Mail-in states don’t have eight-hour wait lines where voting is unnecessarily difficult. —U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Apr. 2026

But opponents argue exemptions would unnecessarily extend to numerous big-selling medicines for common conditions that — thanks to regulatory endorsements — also happen to have an orphan designation. —Ed Silverman, STAT, 6 Apr. 2026

Separately, the transportation fraud scheme — first reported by The Denver Post in 2023 — cost about $25 million, counting both state and federal money, as fraudulent providers were packing cars with patients for unnecessarily long trips. —Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 5 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unnecessarily

• extraordinarily
• hereditarily
• pecuniarily
• preliminarily
• airily
• caroli
• merrily
• verily
• warily
• wearily
• arbitrarily
• customarily

Kids Definition

unnecessarily

adverb

un·​nec·​es·​sar·​i·​ly ˌən-ˌnes-ə-ˈser-ə-lē 

1

: not by necessity

spent money unnecessarily

2

: to an unnecessary degree

an unnecessarily harsh punishment