Meanings
comparative more needless · superlative most needless · alternative obsolete needles
- Not needed; unnecessary.
This new project of yours will only be a needless expense.
1 more example
[…]they were needless bursts of imagination from a man who’d made such a show of unshowiness.
2009 June 1, Jon Caramanica, “Country’s King Rules With Restraint”, in The New York TimesAntonyms: needful
comparative more needless · superlative most needless · alternative obsolete needles
- archaicNeedlessly, without cause.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot needed; unnecessary.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveunnecessary and unwarranted
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishneedlees
- Englishneedless
From Middle English needlees, nedelees, nedeles, equivalent to need + -less.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian ненужен, непотребен
- ненужен (nenužen)not needed
- непотребен (nepotreben)not needed
Catalan innecessari
- innecessarinot needed
Chinese Mandarin 不必要的
- 不必要的 (bùbìyào de)not needed
Dutch nodeloos
- nodeloosnot needed
Esperanto senbezona
- senbezonanot needed
Finnish tarpeeton
- tarpeetonnot needed
French superflu, inutile
- superflunot needed
- inutilenot needed
German unnötig, überflüssig
- unnötignot needed
- überflüssignot needed
Italian superfluo, inutile
- superfluonot needed
- inutilenot needed
Japanese 不必要な
- 不必要な (fuhitsuyō na)not needed
Māori papakore
- papakorenot needed
Polish niepotrzebny, zbyteczny
- niepotrzebnynot needed
- zbytecznynot needed
Portuguese desnecessário
- desnecessárionot needed
Russian нену́жный, изли́шний
- нену́жный (nenúžnyj)not needed
- изли́шний (izlíšnij)not needed
Scottish Gaelic gun fheum
- gun fheumnot needed
Spanish sin necesidad
- sin necesidadnot needed
Turkish gereksiz, lüzumsuz
- gereksiznot needed
- lüzumsuznot needed
- boşunanot needed
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with needless
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
needless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/needless
“needless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/needless. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “needless,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/needless.
Source: needless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.