needlesslyadv.
/ˈniːdlᵻsli/, U.S. /ˈnidlᵻsli/ In a needless or unnecessary manner; without cause or necessity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [adverb] > uselessly or needlessly
over-vainly1382
needlessly1395
the mind > will > free will > [adverb]
freelyeOE
wilfullyc1000
by one's willOE
of oneselfOE
self-willesOE
of one's own willOE
willyOE
with one's willc1175
voluntarilyc1374
wilfulc1380
of one's own heada1393
willea1400
willilya1400
of (free) voluntyc1402
of or at one's (own) voluntyc1402
of one's own motion1419
of (also by, with) one's (own) goodwill?a1425
on one's own heada1425
of (also by, on, upon) one's own accorda1450
activelyc1454
willinglyc1475
voluntary1480
liberallya1500
of one's own swinge1548
voluntariously1550
voluntarlyc1568
for favour1574
at voluntary1585
of, out of, upon, or at (a person's) own voluntary1585
selfly1595
motu proprio1603
ultroneously1627
unimposedly1647
spontaneously1660
needlessly1710
unmechanically1764
the mind > will > necessity > [adverb] > needlessly or without necessity
unnecessarily1565
unneedfully1603
unnecessarly1609
needlessly1710
unnecessariously1798
Remonstr. against Romish Corruptions (Titus) (1851) 83 Where two or thre men..ben gaderid togidere..to charge cristene men nedelesli or superfluli with nouelries vnherd..there is the spiryt of leesing.
a1450 (a1397) Prol. Old Test. (Harl. 1666) in Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (1850) 33 Lordis and prelatis exciten..men to ydolatrie, for thei sweren custumably nedelesly..bi seintis, in so myche that ech lord and greet prelat comynly makith to him an ydole of sum seint.
1597 H. Lok Ecclesiastes xi. 104 Who for pittie giues, and not for pride, Though needlesly some fall among the rest, Yet some (no doubt) is blessedly bestowd.
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer v. 322 They did but needlesly their fictions borrow To set it forth.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xlii. 272 They have needlessely cast away their lives.
1710 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. §22 I am afraid..I am needlessly prolix in handling this subject.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 563 The man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. i. 21 We often..Needlessly wept when they were in their joy.
1859 H. T. Buckle in A. H. Huth Life & Writings H. T. Buckle (1880) II. 6 I do not see why I should needlessly charge myself with inaccuracy.
1922 ‘R. Crompton’ More William (1924) x. 178 A little girl with dark curls took up the cudgels quite needlessly in William's defence.
1984 V. Brome Freud & Disciples x. 134 Jung needlessly restricted the time given to individual speakers and allowed discussion to overwhelm the papers.
2002 Washington Post 23 Jan. (Home ed.) a17/3 All the pressures and absurdities of the process are now needlessly magnified by colleges that resort more and more to ‘early admissions’—a practice rightly characterized as a ‘racket’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adv.1395