necessitous
Americanadjective
-
destitute or impoverished; needy; indigent.
to aid a necessitous young mother.
-
being essential or unavoidable.
a necessitous discharge of responsibilities.
-
requiring immediate attention or action; urgent.
the necessitous demands of the oil shortage.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- necessitously adverb
- necessitousness noun
- nonnecessitous adjective
- nonnecessitously adverb
- nonnecessitousness noun
- unnecessitous adjective
- unnecessitously adverb
- unnecessitousness noun
Etymology
Origin of necessitous
First recorded in 1605–15; necessit(y) + -ous
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.
Back in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt, in his inaugural address, pointed out that "a necessitous man is not a free man."
From Salon • Nov. 27, 2022
“The first lady’s initiative, ‘Let Girls Learn’ is a fantastic one, and it’s a necessitous one, and this film absolutely speaks to that, ” he says.
From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2016
He raised $300,000 for destitute Belgians, $5,000 for a memorial to Antarctic Explorer Scott, $15,000 "to provide pensions for necessitous grandnieces" of Charles Dickens.
From Time Magazine Archive
The man who had fathered this necessitous technique was Dr. Josep Trueta, onetime head of the department of surgery at Barcelona's General Hospital of Satalunya, now in London.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Bishops sought to relieve necessitous convents by offering particular inducements to the faithful to give alms, when they were thus requested.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Power, Eileen
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.
