English Explanatory Dictionary

necessity

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun

The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.
Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.
The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.
Indispensable requirements (of life).

Pronunciation

/nɪˈsɛsəti/ en-us-necessity.ogg

Word forms

necessity necessities

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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

impossibility contingency luxury

Related words

necessariness necessary necessitate necessitation necessitative necessitousness necessitude

Derived words

bare necessities daily necessities doctrine of necessity doctrine of philosophical necessity make a virtue of necessity money of necessity necessitarian necessitied necessitous necessity is the mother of innovation necessity is the mother of invention necessity knows no law necessity money needcessity nonnecessity unnecessity work of necessity

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

Back to search All on N Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary