Necessity

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ne=ces=si=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

Necessity, n. [OE. necessite, F. nécessité, L. necessitas, fr. necesse. See Necessary.].

•  The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite; inevitableness; indispensableness.  [1913 Webster]
•  The condition of being needy or necessitous; pressing need; indigence; want.  [1913 Webster]

  "Urge the necessity and state of times."  [1913 Webster]

  "The extreme poverty and necessity his majesty was in."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is necessary; a necessary; a requisite; something indispensable; -- often in the plural.  [1913 Webster]

  "These should be hours for necessities,
  Not for delights."  [1913 Webster]

  "What was once to me
  Mere matter of the fancy, now has grown
  The vast necessity of heart and life."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which makes an act or an event unavoidable; irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical or moral; fate; fatality.  [1913 Webster]

  "So spake the fiend, and with necessity,
  The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds."  [1913 Webster]
•  The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.  [1913 Webster]

Of necessity, by necessary consequence; by compulsion, or irresistible power; perforce.

Syn. -- See Need.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Necessity, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a an indispensible thing; a necessary (central heating is a necessity). b (usu. foll. by of) indispensability (the necessity of a warm overcoat).
2 a state of things or circumstances enforcing a certain course (there was a necessity to hurry).
3 imperative need (necessity is the mother of invention).
4 want; poverty; hardship (stole because of necessity).
5 constraint or compulsion regarded as a natural law governing all human action.

Idiom

of necessity unavoidably.

Etymology

ME f. OF necessit{eacute} f. L necessitas -tatis f. necesse needful

THESAURUS

Necessity

absolute certainty, absoluteness, act of God, assurance, assuredness, bare cupboard, bare necessities, bare subsistence, beggarliness, beggary, call, call for, cause, certain knowledge, certainness, certainty, certitude, coaction, coercion, compulsion, compulsiveness, condition, constraint, dead certainty, decree, definiteness, demand, demand for, deprivation, desideration, desideratum, destitution, determinacy, determinateness, duress, empty purse, enforcement, essential, essentials, exigency, fate, fatefulness, force majeure, forcing, foredestiny, foregone conclusion, foreknowledge, foreordination, grinding poverty, gripe, hand-to-mouth existence, homelessness, impoverishment, indefeasibility, indigence, indispensable, indispensableness, ineluctability, inerrability, inerrancy, inescapableness, inevasibleness, inevitability, inevitable accident, inevitableness, inexorability, infallibilism, infallibility, inflexibility, irresistibility, irrevocability, lack, mendicancy, moneylessness, must, must item, necessaries, necessities, necessitousness, need, need for, needfulness, neediness, nonambiguity, noncontingency, obligation, obligement, occasion, pauperism, pauperization, penury, pinch, positiveness, predestination, predetermination, preordination, prerequirement, prerequisite, prescience, privation, probatum, proved fact, relentlessness, requirement, requisite, requisiteness, requisition, restraint, sine qua non, sureness, surety, the necessary, the needful, truth, unambiguity, unavoidable casualty, unavoidableness, uncontrollability, undeflectability, unequivocalness, univocity, unmistakableness, unpreventability, unyieldingness, vis major, want

ROGET THESAURUS

Necessity

Necessity

N necessity, involuntariness, instinct, blind impulse, inborn proclivity, innate proclivity, native tendency, natural tendency, natural impulse, predetermination, necessity, necessitation, obligation, compulsion, subjection, stern necessity, hard necessity, dire necessity, imperious necessity, inexorable necessity, iron necessity, adverse necessity, fate, what must be, destiny, destination, fatality, fate, kismet, doom, foredoom, election, predestination, preordination, foreordination, lot fortune, fatalism, inevitableness, spell, star, stars, planet, planets, astral influence, sky, Fates, Parcae, Sisters three, book of fate, God's will, will of Heaven, wheel of Fortune, Ides of March, Hobson's choice, last shift, last resort, dernier ressort, pis aller, necessaries, necessarian, necessitarian, fatalist, automaton, necessary, needful, fated, destined, elect, spellbound compulsory, uncontrollable, inevitable, unavoidable, irresistible, irrevocable, inexorable, avoidless, resistless, involuntary, instinctive, automatic, blind, mechanical, unconscious, unwitting, unthinking, unintentional, impulsive, necessarily, of necessity, of course, ex necessitate rei, needs must, perforce, nolens volens, will he nil he, willy nilly, bon gre mal gre, willing or unwilling, coute que coute, faute de mieux, by stress of, if need be, it cannot be helped, there is no help for, there is no helping it, it will be, it must be, it needs to be, it must be so, it will have its way, the die is cast, jacta est alea, che sara sara, it is written, one's days are numbered, one's fate is sealed, Fata obstant, diis aliter visum, actum me invito factus, non est meus actus, aujord'hui roi demain rien, quisque suos patimur manes, The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, Nor all thy piety nor wit shall draw it back to ca, necessity, involuntariness, instinct, blind impulse, inborn proclivity, innate proclivity, native tendency, natural tendency, natural impulse, predetermination, necessity, necessitation, obligation, compulsion, subjection, stern necessity, hard necessity, dire necessity, imperious necessity, inexorable necessity, iron necessity, adverse necessity, fate, what must be, destiny, destination, fatality, fate, kismet, doom, foredoom, election, predestination, preordination, foreordination, lot fortune, fatalism, inevitableness, spell, star, stars, planet, planets, astral influence, sky, Fates, Parcae, Sisters three, book of fate, God's will, will of Heaven, wheel of Fortune, Ides of March, Hobson's choice, last shift, last resort, dernier ressort, pis aller, necessaries, necessarian, necessitarian, fatalist, automaton, necessary, needful, fated, destined, elect, spellbound compulsory, uncontrollable, inevitable, unavoidable, irresistible, irrevocable, inexorable, avoidless, resistless, involuntary, instinctive, automatic, blind, mechanical, unconscious, unwitting, unthinking, unintentional, impulsive, necessarily, of necessity, of course, ex necessitate rei, needs must, perforce, nolens volens, will he nil he, willy nilly, bon gre mal gre, willing or unwilling, coute que coute, faute de mieux, by stress of, if need be, it cannot be helped, there is no help for, there is no helping it, it will be, it must be, it needs to be, it must be so, it will have its way, the die is cast, jacta est alea, che sara sara, it is written, one's days are numbered, one's fate is sealed, Fata obstant, diis aliter visum, actum me invito factus, non est meus actus, aujord'hui roi demain rien, quisque suos patimur manes, The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, Nor all thy piety nor wit shall draw it back to ca.

Absence of Choice

N absence of choice, no choice, Hobson's choice, first come first served, random selection, necessity, not a pin to choose, any, the first that comes, that or nothing, neutrality, indifference, indecision, arbitrariness, coercion (compulsion), neutral, neuter, indifferent, uninterested, undecided, either, who cares?, what difference does it make?, There's not a dime's worth of difference between t.

Predetermination

N predestination, preordination, premeditation, predeliberation, predetermination, foregone conclusion, fait accompli, parti pris, resolve, propendency, intention, project, fate, foredoom, necessity, prepense, premeditated, predesignated, predesigned, advised, studied, designed, calculated, aforethought, intended, foregone, well-laid, well-devised, well-weighed, maturely considered, cunning, advisedly, with premeditation, deliberately, all things considered, with eyes open, in cold blood, intentionally.

Requirement

N requirement, need, wants, necessities, necessaries, necessaries of life, stress, exigency, pinch, sine qua non, matter of necessity, case of need, case of life or death, needfulness, essentiality, necessity, indispensability, urgency, requisition, run upon, demand, call for, charge, claim, command, injunction, mandate, order, precept, desideratum, want, Adj, required, requisite, needful, necessary, imperative, essential, indispensable, prerequisite, called for, in demand, in request, urgent, exigent, pressing, instant, crying, absorbing, in want of, destitute of, ex necessitate rei, of necessity, there is no time to lose, it cannot be spared, it cannot be dispensed with, mendacem memorem esse oportet, necessitas non habet legem, nec tecum possum trivere nec sine te.

Compulsion

N compulsion, coercion, coaction, constraint, duress, enforcement, press, conscription, force, brute force, main force, physical force, the sword, ultima ratio, club law, lynch law, mob law, arguementum baculinum, le droit du plus fort, martial law, restraint, necessity, force majeure, Hobson's choice, compelling, coercive, coactive, inexorable, compulsory, compulsatory, obligatory, stringent, peremptory, forcible, not to be trifled with, irresistible, compelled, fain to, by force, by force of arms, on compulsion, perforce, vi et armis, under the lash, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, forcibly, by a strong arm, under protest, in spite of one's teeth, against one's will, nolens volens, by stress of circumstances, by stress of weather, under press of, de rigueur, with a gun to one's head, I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

Poverty

N poverty, indigence, penury, pauperism, destitution, want, need, neediness, lack, necessity, privation, distress, difficulties, wolf at the door, bad circumstances, poor circumstances, need circumstances, embarrassed circumstances, reduced circumstances, straightened circumstances, slender means, narrow means, straits, hand to mouth existence, res angusta domi, low water, impecuniosity, beggary, mendicancy, mendicity, broken fortune, loss of fortune, insolvency, empty pocket, empty purse, light purse, beggarly account of empty boxes, poor man, pauper, mendicant, mumper, beggar, starveling, pauvre diable, fakir, schnorrer, homeless person, poor, indigent, poverty-stricken, badly off, poorly off, ill off, poor as a rat, poor as a church mouse, poor as a Job, fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless, unportioned, unmoneyed, impecunious, out of money, out of cash, short of money, short of cash, without a rap, not worth a rap, qui n'a pas le sou, out of pocket, hard up, out at elbows, out at heels, seedy, bare-footed, beggarly, beggared, destitute, fleeced, stripped, bereft, bereaved, reduced, homeless, in want, needy, necessitous, distressed, pinched, straitened, put to one's shifts, put to one's last shifts, unable to keep the wolf from the door, unable to make both ends meet, embarrassed, under hatches, involved, insolvent, in forma pauperis, zonam perdidit, a penniless lass wi' a lang pedigree, a pobreza no hay verguenza, he that is down can fall no lower, poca roba poco pensiero, steeped, in poverty to the very lips, the short and simple annals of the poor.

Certainty

N certainty, necessity, certitude, surety, assurance, dead certainty, moral certainty, infallibleness, infallibility, reliability, indubitableness, inevitableness, unquestionableness, gospel, scripture, church, pope, court of final appeal, res judicata, ultimatum positiveness, dogmatism, dogmatist, dogmatizer, doctrinaire, bigot, opinionist, Sir Oracle, ipse dixit, fact, positive fact, matter of fact, fait accompli, certain, sure, assured, solid, well-founded, unqualified, absolute, positive, determinate, definite, clear, unequivocal, categorical, unmistakable, decisive, decided, ascertained, inevitable, unavoidable, avoidless, ineluctable, unerring, infallible, unchangeable, to be depended on, trustworthy, reliable, bound, unimpeachable, undeniable, unquestionable, indisputable, incontestable, incontrovertible, indubitable, irrefutable, conclusive, without power of appeal, indubious, without doubt, beyond a doubt, without a shade or shadow of doubt, without question, beyond question, past dispute, clear as day, beyond all question, beyond all dispute, undoubted, uncontested, unquestioned, undisputed, questionless, doubtless, authoritative, authentic, official, sure as fate, sure as death and taxes, sure as a gun, evident, self-evident, axiomatic, clear, clear as day, clear as the sun at noonday, certainly, for certain, certes, sure, no doubt, doubtless, and no mistake, flagrante delicto, sure enough, to be sure, of course, as a matter of course, a coup sur, to a certainty, in truth, at any rate, at all events, without fail, coute que coute, coute qu'il coute, whatever may happen, if the worst come to the worst, come what may, happen what may, come what will, sink or swim, rain or shine, cela va sans dire, there is no question, no question, not a shadow of doubt, there is not a shadow of doubt, the die is cast, facts are stubborn things.