necessity

American  

[nuh-ses-i-tee] / nəˈsɛs ɪ ti /

noun

plural

necessities

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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Related Words

See need.

Other Word Forms

• nonnecessity noun
• supernecessity noun

Etymology

Origin of necessity

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

Example Sentences

Apple TV+ still feels like a luxury, not a necessity, but there are a lot of really good — and potentially good — shows here.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 31, 2026

After a meeting last week, G7 foreign ministers said it was an "absolute necessity" for Iran to re-establish free passage through the strait and called for an end to attacks on civilian infrastructure.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

“Originally, the relationship is defined by hierarchy and necessity and then there’s this complicated dependence that bounds them together for life.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

Kedrosky argued that Nvidia’s gross margins, which stood at 73% in the most recent quarter, will by necessity have to compress, for two reasons.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026

He learned his first lesson about the necessity of counterintelligence when a young woman was brought before him for questioning about a coded letter she had been given.

From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen

Related Words

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