needlessly

comparative more needlessly · superlative most needlessly

1. In a needless manner.
2. To a degree or extent beyond what is needed.

   He was always needlessly anxious about his dog.

   1 more example

   At present that convenience is still needlessly expensive in Great Britain, and a scandalously stupid business conflict between telephone company and post-office delays, complicates, and makes costly and exasperating all trunk communications; but even under these disadvantages the thing is becoming a factor in the life of ordinary villadom.

   1902, Herbert George Wells, Anticipations

3. Without need.

   He worried needlessly about his dog.

   1 more example

   Ever since the industrial revolution, every generation has needlessly worried that, in the future, technology will fundamentally change what it means to be human.

   2025 June 25, Mick LaSalle, “Review: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ is clever about AI, but its tired plot wastes a smart premise”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2026