necessarily
Americanadverb
-
by or of necessity; as a matter of compulsion or requirement.
You don't necessarily have to attend.
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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
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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.
But losing those benefits does not necessarily mean a person becomes less healthy than they were before losing weight.
From Science Daily • May 17, 2026
"Just because you have a wedge in your hand doesn't necessarily mean that you're trying to make birdie."
From BBC • May 16, 2026
Translations are necessarily interpretations, and what these men and women saw in Kafka call up signal themes of the 20th century.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
“Will plays things a lot more fast and loose in the moment than I do, and I think that’s probably necessarily with the types of characters we’re playing,” Bettany says.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 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.
