adj, adv ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Not needed; unnecessary.

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

Adjective

1. 1
   unnecessary and unwarranted wordnet

Adverb

1. 1
   Needlessly, without cause. archaic

Synonyms

All synonyms

superfluousunnecessarybaselessde tropdispensableexcess

Antonyms

All antonyms

needfulrequisite

Example

More examples

"Needless to say, diligence is a key to happiness."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

needless to say

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.