necessitate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make necessary or unavoidable.
The breakdown of the car necessitated a change in our plans.
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to compel, oblige, or force.
The new wage demand will necessitate a price increase.
verb
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to cause as an unavoidable and necessary result
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(usually passive) to compel or require (someone to do something)
Other Word Forms
- necessitation noun
- necessitative adjective
- prenecessitate verb (used with object)
- unnecessitated adjective
- unnecessitating adjective
Etymology
Origin of necessitate
1620–30; < Medieval Latin necessitātus, past participle of necessitāre to compel, constrain. See necessity, -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hildreth said his client wrote a reimbursement check right away but that it was lost, necessitating a second, backdated check.
From Los Angeles Times
Security fears necessitated tight controls at the menorah-lighting festival, where guests passed through tiers of armed guards, off-duty police and metal detectors before reaching the music and holiday decorations.
From Los Angeles Times
He said schools would communicate any steps they were taking to parents and students and it "may necessitate the closure or partial closure of a site where the situation is particularly severe".
From BBC
Pre-series, it felt like defeat in Australia would not necessarily necessitate change, depending on the manner of performance.
From BBC
What was the church-dividing crisis that, as in the past, necessitated one?
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
