necessity

American  

[nuh-ses-i-tee] / nəˈsɛs ɪ ti /

noun

• necessities
  plural

1. something necessary or indispensable.

   food, shelter, and other necessities of life.

2. the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability.

   the necessity of adequate housing.

3. an imperative requirement or need for something.

   the necessity for a quick decision.

   Synonyms:

   demand

4. the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable.

   to face the necessity of testifying in court.

5. an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something.

   not by choice but by necessity.

6. a state of being in financial need; poverty.

   a family in dire necessity.

   Synonyms:

   want, indigence, neediness

7. Philosophy. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.

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idioms

1. of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily.

   Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.

necessity British  

/ nɪˈsɛsɪtɪ /

noun

1. (sometimes plural) something needed for a desired result; prerequisite

   necessities of life

2. 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

3. the state or quality of being obligatory or unavoidable

4. urgent requirement, as in an emergency or misfortune

   in time of necessity we must all work together

5. poverty or want

6. rare compulsion through laws of nature; fate

7. philosophy

   1. a condition, principle, or conclusion that cannot be otherwise

   2. the constraining force of physical determinants on all aspects of life Compare freedom

8. logic

   1. the property of being necessary

   2. a statement asserting that some property is essential or statement is necessarily true

   3. the operator that indicates that the expression it modifies is true in all possible worlds

9. inevitably; necessarily

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necessity More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing necessity

• make a virtue of necessity
• of necessity

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Synonym Usage

See need.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonnecessity
  noun
• supernecessity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• necessities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of necessity

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English necessite, from Latin necessitās, from necess(e) “needful” + -itās -ity

Explanation

A good camping knife is a necessity if you’re going to be hiking in a heavily forested region. A necessity is something that you must have in order to complete a task. When used in the plural, necessities are items required for a situation but nothing extra. You probably only bring the bare necessities to a sleepover — pajamas and a toothbrush. Sometimes a necessity is a thing you must know how to do. Knowing how to balance your checkbook is a financial necessity. In some cases, necessity simply means "need." Do you do your homework out of necessity or because you want to?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

necessity necessities

The idea that homeownership is somehow a necessity, an essential step to building wealth, is mostly a myth.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

More strikingly, entrepreneurs exposed to lower-income peers during higher education become more likely to enter necessity industries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

It can be "necessity for the poor, meditation for some, an act of resistance for others and a path to discovery. Walking, they noted, also helped shape India's freedom struggle".

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Yes, you can bike in Los Angeles, as many Angelenos often do out of necessity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Martial law continued with an eye to the necessity of taking emergency measures for the public disaster of the endless downpour, but the troops were confined to quarters.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This link between thinking and doing serves a clear function – it motivates us to get the necessities for life.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

Create two columns: one for necessities, and one for nonessentials.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

Some stores are allowed to open but are limited to selling government-certified necessities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

"If there's an emergency in the city, I know I'll still be able to buy basic necessities, even if the mobile network goes down."

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

My mother bought our food and other life necessities there.

From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

Related Words

• essential
• fundamental
• obligation
• precondition
• prerequisite
• requirement
• urgency