necessarily
Americanadverb
-
by or of necessity; as a matter of compulsion or requirement.
You don't necessarily have to attend.
-
as a necessary, logical, or inevitable result.
That conclusion doesn't necessarily follow.
adverb
-
as an inevitable or natural consequence
girls do not necessarily like dolls
-
as a certainty
he won't necessarily come
Etymology
Origin of necessarily
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at necessary, -ly
Explanation
Use the adverb necessarily to mean inevitably. The best man won't necessarily have to speak at the wedding reception, but he should probably have a speech ready just in case. Necessarily also means as a logical result or consequence of some action. Your English composition grade is necessarily based on the work you turn in for the class. If you write fairly well, you won't necessarily get an A, but you just might. Necessarily is made up of the Latin roots ne, meaning not, and cedere, meaning yield. The adjective "necessary," from which necessarily comes, originally meant no backing away.
Vocabulary lists containing necessarily
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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SHSAT: Language of the Test
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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.
“It won’t necessarily settle it, but it’s more weight on the side of the scale for a detectable climate impact.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The assembly spokesperson said the report, which has been published online, external, was "clear that this conclusion is necessarily limited".
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The researchers cautioned that this does not necessarily mean the sharks were eating completely different prey species.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
That doesn’t necessarily make Zoe Kazan’s version more sympathetic to the woman Steinbeck defined as the kind of monster that moves undetected through the world all their lives.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
It wasn’t necessarily the most orderly way of doing things, but it was a lot easier than Zion’s methods.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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.
