necessary
- being essential, indispensable, or requisite: a necessary part of the motor.
- happening or existing by necessity: a necessary change in our plans.
- acting or proceeding from compulsion or necessity; not free; involuntary: a necessary agent.
- Logic.
- (of a proposition) such that a denial of it involves a self-contradiction.
- (of an inference or argument) such that its conclusion cannot be false if its supporting premises are true.
- (of a condition) such that it must exist if a given event is to occur or a given thing is to exist.Compare sufficient(def 2).
- something necessary or required for a particular purpose; necessity.
- necessaries, Law. food, clothing, etc., required by a dependent or incompetent and varying with his or her social or economic position or that of the person upon whom he or she is dependent.
- Chiefly New England. a privy or toilet.
Origin of necessary
Synonyms for necessary
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for necessary
Related Words for necessary
unavoidable, mandatory, fundamental, urgent, indispensable, required, crucial, needed, vital, imperative, significant, basic, paramount, decisive, imminent, certain, prime, binding, chief, pressingExamples from the Web for necessary
Contemporary Examples of necessary
He could order the Justice Department to begin the necessary regulatory work.
Yet, what my peers do not realize – or cannot handle – is that rejection is a necessary part of forging a romantic relationships.
But as is her way, Kaling defended why the episode was not only funny, but necessary.
Unfortunately, the underground tunnels that were used to transport booze and, if necessary, escaping patrons, are off-limits.
However, we have just had a necessary wake-up call that all is not as secure as we believed.
Historical Examples of necessary
It is not necessary to dwell on every incident of this terrible journey.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
They look so beautifully, if it only were not necessary to eat them.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
The necessary papers were made out and given to the Marshal.
Harriet, The Moses of Her PeopleSarah H. Bradford
It will not be necessary to repeat in detail the course of my examination.
In the meantime, I will go to Chatterton, and take all necessary precautions.
necessary
- needed to achieve a certain desired effect or result; required
- resulting from necessity; inevitablethe necessary consequences of your action
- logic
- (of a statement, formula, etc) true under all interpretations or in all possible circumstances
- (of a proposition) determined to be true by its meaning, so that its denial would be self-contradictory
- (of a property) essential, so that without it its subject would not be the entity it is
- (of an inference) always yielding a true conclusion when its premises are true; valid
- (of a condition) entailed by the truth of some statement or the obtaining of some state of affairsCompare sufficient (def. 2)
- philosophy (in a nonlogical sense) expressing a law of nature, so that if it is in this sense necessary that all As are B, even although it is not contradictory to conceive of an A which is not B, we are licensed to infer that if something were an A it would have to be B
- rare compelled, as by necessity or law; not free
- the necessary informal the money required for a particular purpose
- do the necessary informal to do something that is necessary in a particular situation
Word Origin for necessary
Word Origin and History for necessary
late 14c. "needed, required, essential, indispensable," from Old French necessaire "necessary, urgent, compelling" (13c.), and directly from Latin necessarius "unavoidable, indispensable, necessary," from necesse "unavoidable, indispensable," originally "no backing away," from ne- "not" + cedere "to withdraw, go away, yield" (see cede). The root sense is of that from which there is no evasion, that which is inevitable. Necessary house "privy" is from c.1600. Necessary evil is from 1540s (the original reference was to "woman").
mid-14c., "needed, required, or useful things; the necessities of life; actions determined by right or law," perhaps from Old French necessaire (n.) "private parts, genitalia; lavatory," and directly from Latin necessarius (n.), in classical Latin "a relation, relative, kinsman; friend, client, patron;" see necessary (adj.).