necessity
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /nɪˈsɛsəti/
Forms: form: 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.
Senses: examples: text: I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined.
text: Educating the public about some of the myths that underlie their fears that non-traditional families will of necessity be detrimental to the well-being of foster children.
ref: 1985 December 7, Kim Westheimer, quoting Carol Brill, “Toy Dolls, Fake Dukakis 'Hear' Foster Testimony”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 21, page 1:
text: Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.
ref: 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
glosses: The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
examples: 1863, Richard Sibbes, The Successful Seeker, in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, D.D., Volume VI, James Nichol, page 125,
For it is in vain for a man to think to seek God in his necessity and exigence, if he seek not God in his ordinances, and do not joy in them.
glosses: The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.
examples: text: A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping.
text: Look for the bare necessities / The simple bare necessities / Forget about your worries and your strife
ref: 1967, Terry Gilkyson, “The Bare Necessities”, in The Jungle Book:
text: Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
ref: 20th century, Tenzin Gyatso (attributed)
glosses: Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
examples: text: After eating a full meal, the human body's necessity for food will compel the person to eat again in the future.
text: I stopped, and said with inly muttered voice,
'It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold:
This neither is its courage nor its choice,
But its necessity in being old.
ref: 1804, The Small Celandine, Wordsworth:
glosses: Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.
glosses: The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
examples: text: doctrine of necessity
topics: law
glosses: Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.
topics: law
glosses: Indispensable requirements (of life).
Synonyms: sense: state of being necessary
word: necessariness
sense: state of being necessary
word: inevitability
sense: state of being necessary
word: needfulness
sense: state of being necessary
word: certainty
sense: requirement
word: requisite
Derived terms: 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
Related terms: necessariness
necessary
necessitate
necessitation
necessitative
necessitousness
necessitude