unnecessarily

Etymology

unnecessary + -ly

adv

1. In an unnecessary way; not by necessity.
   He unnecessarily repeated much of what others had covered.
   Pray let not any-body unnecessarily be acquainted with this shocking affair; 1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 1, Letter 33, p. 235
   […] they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down, 1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 17, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, New York: Macmillan
2. To an extent beyond what is needed.
   The food provided was unnecessarily generous, especially for an event meant to raise money for the hungry.
   In the days of their [the Roman armies’] grandeur, when no enemy appeared capable of opposing them, their heavy armour was laid aside as unnecessarily burdensome, their laborious exercises were neglected as unnecessarily toilsome. 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 5, Part 1, pp. 307-308
   […] it seemed that she used his name unnecessarily often, 2007, Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2008, page 28