necessity
/nɪˈsɛsəti/ noun
Forms necessities
- noun The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite. “I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined.”
- noun The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.
- noun Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable. “A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping.”
- noun Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power. “After eating a full meal, the human body's necessity for food will compel the person to eat again in the future.”
- noun The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
- noun (law) Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act. “doctrine of necessity”
- noun (law, in the plural) Indispensable requirements (of life).
Synonyms
necessariness inevitability needfulness certainty requisite essential requirement necessary
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitās (“unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency, necessity”), from necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”); see necessary. Doublet of Necessitas.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite; inevitableness; indispensableness.
- noun The condition of being needy or necessitous; pressing need; indigence; want.
Etymology [OE. necessite, F. nécessité, L. necessitas, fr. necesse. See Necessary.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “necessity”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details