Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

unnecessarily

play
adverb un·nec·es·sar·i·ly \ˌən-ˌne-sə-ˈser-ə-lē\

Definition of unnecessarily

  1. :  not by necessity :  to an unnecessary degree unnecessarily harsh criticism

See unnecessarily defined for kids

Explore Merriam-Webster

istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz
payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?
alt-5953d7f904965
'Patriot' Hasn't Always Been Positive
supreme-court-at-dusk
Trending: SCOTUS: 'Bona Fide' relationships

First Known Use of unnecessarily

1565

Learn More about unnecessarily

  1. See words that rhyme with unnecessarily Nglish: Translation of unnecessarily for Spanish speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up unnecessarily? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

tristful

play

sad or melancholy

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. bona fide Made in good faith

  2. surrogate mother From TMZ to the dictionary.

  3. zealot A fanatical partisan

  4. stonewall to be uncooperative, obstructive, or evasive

  5. scurrilous Containing obscenities, abuse, or slander

SEE ALL

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-5953d7f904965
'Patriot' Hasn't Always Been Positive

The word has roots in a religious rivalry

alt-5949565fc7d94
'Negging' Moves Beyond The Bar

Not just for pick-up artists anymore

alt-5947fc40f1b5c
In Tech, What Does 'K' Mean?

A buzzword with a long history.

alt-5951697e1a410
When To Use 'Specious' vs. 'Spurious'

These similar words are not interchangeable

Ask the Editors

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

decimate-video
Is it wrong to use 'decimate' to mean 'destroy'?

Language changes

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

istock-refers-to-this-as-a-tumble-of-strawberries-which-sounded-pretty-nice-to-us
June 2017 Words of the Day Quiz

Summer's first WOTD quiz.

Take the quiz
alt-5941ad7527c3c
Yearbook Superlatives Quiz

Is that your picture under "Largest Vocabulary"?

Take the quiz
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

Take the quiz
Word Winder's CrossWinder
Word Winder's CrossWinder

A game of winding words.

Play the game