Unnecessary

Examples

• Such is the process by which the youth passes from the necessary pleasures to the unnecessary. Plato. The Republic.
• He had always meant to do something, and Amy's advice was quite unnecessary. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
• The jealousy of the artist to maintain that reputation, which his ingenuity has justly acquired, has urged him to unnecessary pains on this subject. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
• My good sir,' said Mr. Pickwick, 'you will allow me to observe that this is a very unnecessary display of excitement. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
• She will be taken from me soon enough, by God's will; we must not cause her unnecessary agitation. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
• I had said to Halleck that Plymouth and Washington, North Carolina, were unnecessary to hold. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
• I availed myself of your obliging hints to correct my timidity, and it is unnecessary to add that they were perfectly accurate. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
• Their habits make it unnecessary. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
• Have I not carefully avoided exposing myself to the odium of committing unnecessary crime? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
• But at this time his arrangements had most of them gone no farther than a stage at which he could recall them if they proved to be unnecessary. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
• This out of to-day, quite an unnecessary out so far as the attendance, which was its pretended object, went, was planned by me alone for thee alone. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• Quite unnecessary, Sir Leicester. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• He is the son of a miserly oligarch, and has been taught by him to restrain the love of unnecessary pleasures. Plato. The Republic.
• If Reis’ telephone had been a speaking telephone, this would have been unnecessary. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
• There is not an unnecessary motion made by any one, and there is not one necessary thing omitted, whatever the cost or trouble. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
• The same cause gradually led them to dismiss the unnecessary part of their tenants. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• Would you like, for the sake of clearness, to distinguish which are the necessary and which are the unnecessary pleasures? Plato. The Republic.
• Wise ushers avoid unnecessary interference with that lad. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• Near the door I saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even if it had been safe, to turn it on. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
• Quite unnecessary,' replied Mr. Winkle; 'name them to me, and I can procure the attendance of a friend afterwards. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
• Our chance of catching the thieves may depend on our not wasting one unnecessary minute. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
• It is therefore unnecessary to say any thing further about either. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
• It is quite unnecessary to say that Marian's letter threatened me. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
• That would be unnecessary. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
• In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to examine the premises without an instant of unnecessary delay. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
• Manufacturers color with caramel or other coloring, but for home use this is unnecessary. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
• He seems to be conscientiously afraid of appearing indolent, and in consequence subjects himself regularly to unnecessary hardship. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
• The catastrophe of the war was not an unnecessary disaster; it was a necessary fulfilment of such an age of drift. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• I know it to be unnecessary and calculated to awaken speculation, doubt, rumour, I don't know what, in the house. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• At the time, he had pushed her aside, and spoken gruffly; he had seen nothing but the unnecessary danger she had placed herself in. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.

Edited by Bridget