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NEEDLESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Unnecessary and unwarranted
Example:
a strikers' tent camp...was burned with needless loss of life
Synonyms:
gratuitous; needless; uncalled-for
Classified under:
Similar:
unnecessary; unneeded (not necessary)
Context examples:
But it was all needless.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
“Is this a tongue to be used within the walls of an old and well-famed monastery? But grace and learning have ever gone hand in hand, and when one is lost it is needless to look for the other.”
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Mrs. Dashwood could think of no other question, and Thomas and the tablecloth, now alike needless, were soon afterwards dismissed.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
It is needless; I have seen him!
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Mr. Collins repeated his apologies in quitting the room, and was assured with unwearying civility that they were perfectly needless.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
With respect to the pecuniary assistance enabling us to launch our frail canoe on the ocean of enterprise, I have reconsidered that important business-point; and would beg to propose my notes of hand—drawn, it is needless to stipulate, on stamps of the amounts respectively required by the various Acts of Parliament applying to such securities—at eighteen, twenty-four, and thirty months.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The ladies here probably exchanged looks which meant, Men never know when things are dirty or not; and the gentlemen perhaps thought each to himself, Women will have their little nonsenses and needless cares.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I answered, that was needless, and would take up too much time; for there was no more to be done, but let one of the crew put his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the sea into the ship, and so into the captain’s cabin.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
He saw the necessity of inviting the Miss Steeles immediately, and his conscience was pacified by the resolution of inviting his sisters another year; at the same time, however, slyly suspecting that another year would make the invitation needless, by bringing Elinor to town as Colonel Brandon's wife, and Marianne as THEIR visitor.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
