necessity

American  

[nuh-ses-i-tee] / nəˈsɛs ɪ ti /

noun

necessities plural

1. something necessary or indispensable.

   food, shelter, and other necessities of life.

2. the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability.

   the necessity of adequate housing.

3. an imperative requirement or need for something.

   the necessity for a quick decision.

   Synonyms:

   demand

4. the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable.

   to face the necessity of testifying in court.

5. an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something.

   not by choice but by necessity.

6. a state of being in financial need; poverty.

   a family in dire necessity.

   Synonyms:

   want, indigence, neediness

7. Philosophy. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.

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idioms

1. of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily.

   Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.

necessity British  

/ nɪˈsɛsɪtɪ /

noun

1. (sometimes plural) something needed for a desired result; prerequisite

   necessities of life

2. a condition or set of circumstances, such as physical laws or social rules, that inevitably requires a certain result

   it is a matter of necessity to wear formal clothes when meeting the Queen

3. the state or quality of being obligatory or unavoidable

4. urgent requirement, as in an emergency or misfortune

   in time of necessity we must all work together

5. poverty or want

6. rare compulsion through laws of nature; fate

7. philosophy

   1. a condition, principle, or conclusion that cannot be otherwise

   2. the constraining force of physical determinants on all aspects of life Compare freedom

8. logic

   1. the property of being necessary

   2. a statement asserting that some property is essential or statement is necessarily true

   3. the operator that indicates that the expression it modifies is true in all possible worlds

9. inevitably; necessarily

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necessity More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing necessity

• make a virtue of necessity
• of necessity

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Synonym Usage

See need.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonnecessity
  noun
• supernecessity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• necessities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of necessity

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English necessite, from Latin necessitās, from necess(e) “needful” + -itās -ity

Explanation

A good camping knife is a necessity if you’re going to be hiking in a heavily forested region. A necessity is something that you must have in order to complete a task. When used in the plural, necessities are items required for a situation but nothing extra. You probably only bring the bare necessities to a sleepover — pajamas and a toothbrush. Sometimes a necessity is a thing you must know how to do. Knowing how to balance your checkbook is a financial necessity. In some cases, necessity simply means "need." Do you do your homework out of necessity or because you want to?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

necessity necessities

“The Wizard of Oz” reminded viewers of the necessity for imagination and metaphor at the end of the Great Depression and dawn of a new war.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

Impacted companies also do much of the investigative legwork, out of necessity and self-interest.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

But if no player comes through the system, it could be a necessity.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

Huges said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine flourished by necessity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

“Not at your age he wasn’t,” Mother begins, “and that was out of necessity for his pack. They had too many mouths to feed. Your pack needs you here.”

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

The bank’s data also show that spending by lower-income households picked up considerably in June compared with a year ago—not just on necessities but on discretionary items, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

About 32% of recent home buyers said that they had already cut spending on necessities including food, clothing, healthcare and hygiene to afford their mortgage payment.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

Also new to the story is Independence, Kan., itself, which in the book is an offstage place to which Pa will sometimes go to fetch necessities, disappearing from the story until he returns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

Both women said that so many people have provided them with food and basic necessities since the incident.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

Could she reasonably hope to support a child, and provide all its necessities, on that income?

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Related Words

• essential
• fundamental
• obligation
• precondition
• prerequisite
• requirement
• urgency