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Necessity

//nɪˈsɛsəti// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite. countable, uncountable

    "I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined."

  2. 2
    anything indispensable wordnet
  3. 3
    The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack. countable, uncountable

    "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."

  4. 4
    the condition of being essential or indispensable wordnet
  5. 5
    Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable. countable, uncountable

    "A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power. countable, uncountable

    "After eating a full meal, the human body's necessity for food will compel the person to eat again in the future."

  2. 7
    The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act. countable, uncountable

    "doctrine of necessity"

  4. 9
    Indispensable requirements (of life). countable, in-plural, uncountable

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.

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