Necessity Definition
nə-sĕsĭ-tē
necessities
noun
necessities
Anything that is inevitable, unavoidable, etc. as a result of natural law; that which is necessary in natural sequence.
Webster's New World
The power of natural law that cannot be other than it is; natural causation; physical compulsion placed on man by nature; fate.
Webster's New World
The compulsion or constraint of man-made circumstances, habit, custom, law, etc.; logical or moral conditions making certain actions inevitable or obligatory.
Faced by the necessity to earn a living.
Webster's New World
What is required by this social or legal compulsion.
Webster's New World
The force exerted by circumstance.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
idiom
of necessity
- As an inevitable consequence; necessarily.
American Heritage
of necessity
- necessarily; inevitably
Webster's New World
Other Word Forms of Necessity
Noun
Singular:
necessityPlural:
necessitiesIdioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Necessity
- of necessity
- of necessity
Origin of Necessity
-
From Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitas (“unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency, necessity"), from necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable"); see necessary.
From Wiktionary
-
Middle English necessite from Old French from Latin necessitās from necesse necessary necessary
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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