See Also: Necessity(medicine)
necessity(dictionary)
necessity(encyclopedia)
necessity(dictionary)
Necessity(law)
Easement By Necessity(law)

necessity (iou)



necessity noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French necessite from Latin necessitas, from necesse necessary: see -ITY.]
The fact of being inevitably fixed or determined; the constraining power of something. LME-M16.
Constraint or compulsion caused by circumstances or the operation of natural processes, esp. regarded as a law prevailing throughout the material universe and governing all human action; a state of things enforcing a certain course of action. LME.
logical necessity: see LOGICAL adjective. make a virtue of necessity, make virtue of necessity: see VIRTUE.
Burke I know the rigour of political necessity. Daedalus The designation of evolution as a two-stage process of chance..and necessity.
The state of being in difficulties, esp. through lack of means; want, poverty. LME.
C. V. Wedgwood An admission wrung from him by the hard necessity of his condition as a prisoner.
b. Inferior or illicitly distilled spirit. Now chiefly arch. & dial. M18.
A situation of hardship or difficulty; a pressing need or want (usu. in pl.). LME.
J. B. Mozley A habit of gratitude, which has no relation to present necessities.
b. Want of a thing. LME-M18.
J. Shebbeare You..are in Necessity of many things.
A necessary piece of business; a necessary act. LME-L17.
b. Something unavoidable. rare. L16-E17.
Shakespeare Winter's Tale One of these two must be necessities.
That which is necessarily required. LME-M17.
An indispensable or necessary thing. L15.
M. R. Mitford Trees and fresh air are necessities to my constitution. Q Necessity kept the machines small.
The fact of being indispensable; the indispensability of an act, a thing, etc. M16.
Wellington The necessity of adopting some measures to subsist their armies.
a. An unavoidable compulsion or obligation. Also foll. by of, to do. Now rare. M17.
James Mill A necessity of applying to the Bengal Government for aid.
b. An imperative need for, of, something. Also, imperative need. L17.
Comb.: necessity-operator Logic a word or symbol signifying that the proposition to which it attaches is a necessary truth.