necessity
something necessary or indispensable: food, shelter, and other necessities of life.
the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability: the necessity of adequate housing.
an imperative requirement or need for something: the necessity for a quick decision.
the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable: to face the necessity of testifying in court.
an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something: not by choice but by necessity.
a state of being in financial need; poverty: a family in dire necessity.
Philosophy. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.
Idioms about necessity
of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily: Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.
Origin of necessity
1synonym study For necessity
Other words for necessity
Other words from necessity
- non·ne·ces·si·ty, noun, plural non·ne·ces·si·ties.
- su·per·ne·ces·si·ty, noun, plural su·per·ne·ces·si·ties.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use necessity in a sentence
At first, the doctors write, the villagers were “fearful and agitated,” lacking the basic necessities needed to survive.
“It was this idea of prayer, and one of the necessities of the prayer pose being the blindfold,” he explained.
‘True Detective’s’ Godless Universe: Is the HBO Show Anti-Christian? | Andrew Romano | March 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“The government is stuck between [strategic] necessities and its social/political aims,” he said.
Each month, he receives ¥300 ($50) in welfare payments, an amount insufficient to cover the bare necessities.
At the margins, that means more people are able to pay for the necessities of life with their incomes.
He, who knows the dangers and necessities we were in, will appreciate the joy we felt and that we feel at its arrival.
Wasnt it wickedseeminglythat one should have so much money, while another needed the very necessities of life?
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonMeanwhile, the judicious establishment of free soup kitchens in the streets alleviated the necessities of the mob.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonSurely a third class passenger is entitled at least to the bare necessities of life.
Third class in Indian railways | Mahatma GandhiIts folds are ample, to remind us that all who have recourse to her find a secure refuge in all dangers and necessities.
Mary, Help of Christians | Various
British Dictionary definitions for necessity
/ (nɪˈsɛsɪtɪ) /
(sometimes plural) something needed for a desired result; prerequisite: necessities of life
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
the state or quality of being obligatory or unavoidable
urgent requirement, as in an emergency or misfortune: in time of necessity we must all work together
poverty or want
rare compulsion through laws of nature; fate
philosophy
a condition, principle, or conclusion that cannot be otherwise
the constraining force of physical determinants on all aspects of life: Compare freedom (def. 8)
logic
the property of being necessary
a statement asserting that some property is essential or statement is necessarily true
the operator that indicates that the expression it modifies is true in all possible worlds: Usual symbol: □, ∟
of necessity inevitably; necessarily
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with necessity
In addition to the idiom beginning with necessity
- necessity is the mother of invention
also see:
- make a virtue of necessity
- of necessity
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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