NECESSITY Definition & Meaning

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necessity

[ nuh-ses-i-tee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

plural necessities.

something necessary or indispensable:
food, shelter, and other necessities of life.
the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability:
the necessity of adequate housing.
an imperative requirement or need for something:
the necessity for a quick decision.
Synonyms:
the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable:
to face the necessity of testifying in court.
an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something:
not by choice but by necessity.
a state of being in financial need; poverty:
a family in dire necessity.
Synonyms: , ,
Philosophy. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.

necessity

/ ��ɪˈ��ɛ��ɪ��ɪ /

noun

sometimes plural something needed for a desired result; prerequisite
necessities of life
a condition or set of circumstances, such as physical laws or social rules, that inevitably requires a certain result
it is a matter of necessity to wear formal clothes when meeting the Queen
the state or quality of being obligatory or unavoidable
urgent requirement, as in an emergency or misfortune
in time of necessity we must all work together
poverty or want
rare.
compulsion through laws of nature; fate
philosophy
1. a condition, principle, or conclusion that cannot be otherwise
2. the constraining force of physical determinants on all aspects of life Compare freedom
logic
1. the property of being necessary
2. a statement asserting that some property is essential or statement is necessarily true
3. the operator that indicates that the expression it modifies is true in all possible worlds Usual symbol
of necessity
inevitably; necessarily

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Other �y��vlog Forms

�Դǲ�n��·��s��·�ٲ� noun plural nonnecessities
��p��·�Ա�·��s��·�ٲ� noun plural supernecessities

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of necessity¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English necessite, from Latin �Ա𳦱��, from necess(e) “needful” + -�� -ity

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Idioms and Phrases

of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily:
Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.

More idioms and phrases containing necessity

In addition to the idiom beginning with necessity , also see make a virtue of necessity ; of necessity .

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Synonym Study

See need.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Even though cooking and storing food might seem like a necessity in order to live in any kind of housing situation, legally the appliances are categorized as amenities.

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Shoes, one of the most basic necessities and also one of Americans' biggest splurges, could become more expensive, including the beloved sneakers Nike Air Force 1s and Adidas Sambas.

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And economic necessity may draw many countries closer to China and further from the US.

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Trump stuck to the rosy side of a potential trade war in his remarks, speaking of a future in which American manufacturing has been revitalized out of necessity.

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The elements that underpin queer partying are the basic necessities we are fighting for.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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