Needless means not necessary at all. Needless suffering, a needless delay, needless to say.
Needless to say is the commonest use by a wide margin, and it introduces something the speaker is about to say anyway — which is one of the standing jokes about English. Needless suffering and needless waste are the serious uses. Note needlessly, which is common before adjectives and participles: needlessly complicated, needlessly cruel; and that unnecessary is the everyday equivalent.
1adjectiveneedlessNot necessary at all.
“Don't take needless risks when you're climbing alone.”
synonyms: unnecessary, gratuitous
needless is a quality of being unnecessary.
The word is need plus -less, both native English. Old English nied meant necessity or force, and the same root gives the German Not, meaning distress.
Middle English
needlees
English, today
needless
From Middle English needlees, nedelees, nedeles, equivalent to need + -less.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA