necessity

[nuh-ses-i-tee]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR necessity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ne·ces·si·ties.

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

of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily: Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.

Origin of necessity

1325–75; Middle English necessite < Latin necessitās, equivalent to necess(e) needful + -itās -ity

Related formsnon·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.

Synonyms for necessity

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR necessity ON THESAURUS.COM

3. demand. 6. neediness, indigence, want.

Synonym study

3. See need.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for necessities

requirement, precondition, prerequisite, fundamental, obligation, essential, urgency, claim, privation, essence, inexorableness, demand, want, call, imperative, compulsion, cause, exaction, duress, exigency

Examples from the Web for necessities

Contemporary Examples of necessities

“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 government is stuck between [strategic] necessities and its social/political aims,” he said.
Erdogan’s Foreign Policy Reset
Thomas Seibert
January 25, 2014
At the margins, that means more people are able to pay for the necessities of life with their incomes.
The Phony Food-Stamp Scare
Daniel Gross
July 15, 2013
I worry about the ability of the Zionist left to recognize these necessities and adapt to them.
Whither The Israeli Left?
Brent E. Sasley
January 24, 2013
As necessities grow scarce, the suffering will spread, from the poor to the middle class, and perhaps higher.
Iran and the Sanctions Trap
Stephen L. Carter
July 31, 2011

Historical Examples of necessities

You will never find us taking advantage of the necessities of the public.
Punchinello, Vol. 1. No. 20, August 13, 1870
Various
It came from the furnace of the Revolution, tempered to the necessities of the times.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
It was not difficult to find a lawyer suited to the necessities of the undertaking.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
Remember the interpositions of God to supply the necessities of the destitute.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II
Francis Augustus Cox
Comforts, even most desirable comforts, are not necessities.
The Forest
Stewart Edward White

British Dictionary definitions for necessities

necessity

noun plural -ties

(sometimes plural) something needed for a desired result; prerequisitenecessities of life

a condition or set of circumstances, such as physical laws or social rules, that inevitably requires a certain resultit 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 misfortunein 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 lifeCompare 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 worldsUsual 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

Word Origin and History for necessities

necessity

late 14c., "constraining power of circumstances," from Old French necessité "need, necessity; privation, poverty; distress, torment; obligation, duty" (12c.), from Latin necessitatem (nominative necessitas) "compulsion, need for attention, unavoidableness, destiny," from necesse (see necessary). Meaning "condition of being in need" in English is from late 15c.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention. [Richard Franck, c.1624-1708, English author and angler, "Northern Memoirs," 1658]

To maken vertu of necessite is in Chaucer. Related: Necessities.

Idioms and Phrases with necessities

necessity

In addition to the idiom beginning with necessity

necessity is the mother of invention

also see:

make a virtue of necessity
of necessity