needless to say

• Audio (General Australian):

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needless to say (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Clearly, obviously.

   Having won the championship, he is, needless to say, a very happy man.

   • 1951 September, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 623:

     Some time ago I was on the footplate of an engine fresh from the shops after overhaul, and the combined efforts of driver and fireman were needed to open and close the regulator. Needless to say, the men were not in a very happy frame of mind."

• Also with various other comparable verbs, e.g. "needless to mention", "needless to repeat", "needless to rehearse".
• Various usage guides tell their readers that if something is indeed needless to say (for example, already obvious to all readers), then a writer should think twice about saying it, versus deleting it; and (on the other hand) if it does need to be said, then it should not be prefaced by needless to say or it goes without saying, and instead the writer might explain why it was necessary to point out (for example, disabusing a flawed assumption that some readers might be predicted to hold).
  • In casual speech, this phrase is not uncommon and the aforementioned usage prescription is often not applied, because extemporaneous speech is an unrehearsed and unedited medium.

• go without saying
• not to mention
• suffice to say
• it goes without saying