needless

English

Alternative forms

• needles (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English needlees, nedelees, nedeles, equivalent to need +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈniːdləs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdləs
• Hyphenation: need‧less

Adjective

needless (comparative more needless, superlative most needless)

1. Not needed; unnecessary.

   Antonym: needful

   This new project of yours will only be a needless expense.

   • 2009 June 1, Jon Caramanica, “Country’s King Rules With Restraint”, in The New York Times‎:

     […] they were needless bursts of imagination from a man who’d made such a show of unshowiness.

Derived terms

• needless to say

Translations

not needed

Bulgarian: ненужен (bg) (nenužen), непотребен (bg) (nepotreben) Catalan: innecessari Chinese: Mandarin: 不必要的 (zh) (bùbìyào de) Dutch: nodeloos (nl) Esperanto: senbezona Finnish: tarpeeton (fi) French: superflu (fr), inutile (fr) German: unnötig (de), überflüssig (de) Italian: superfluo (it), inutile (it) Japanese: 不必要な (ふひつような, fuhitsuyō na) Maori: papakore Plautdietsch: onneedich Polish: niepotrzebny (pl), zbyteczny (pl) m Portuguese: desnecessário (pt) Russian: нену́жный (ru) (nenúžnyj), изли́шний (ru) (izlíšnij) Scottish Gaelic: gun fheum Spanish: inútil (es) Turkish: gereksiz (tr), lüzumsuz (tr), boşuna (tr)

Adverb

needless (comparative more needless, superlative most needless)

1. (archaic) Needlessly, without cause.

Anagrams

• lessened, seldseen