Usually means: Essential requirement for existence, survival.
Definitions Related words Phrases Mentions Lyrics History Colors (New!)
We found 44 dictionaries that define the word necessity:

General (27 matching dictionaries)
  1. necessity: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
  2. necessity: Merriam-Webster
  3. necessity: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  4. necessity: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  5. necessity: Collins English Dictionary
  6. necessity: Vocabulary.com
  7. Necessity, necessity: Wordnik
  8. necessity: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
  9. necessity: Wiktionary
  10. necessity: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  11. necessity: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  12. necessity: Infoplease Dictionary
  13. necessity: Dictionary.com
  14. necessity: Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary
  15. Necessity (criminal law), Necessity (novel), Necessity (tort), Necessity: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  16. Necessity: Online Plain Text English Dictionary
  17. necessity: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition
  18. necessity: Rhymezone
  19. necessity: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
  20. necessity: Webster's 1828 Dictionary
  21. Necessity: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898)
  22. necessity: FreeDictionary.org
  23. necessity: Mnemonic Dictionary
  24. necessity: TheFreeDictionary.com
  25. necessity: Wikimedia Commons US English Pronunciations

Art (1 matching dictionary)
  1. Linguistic Glossary (No longer online)

Business (7 matching dictionaries)
  1. necessity: Merriam-Webster Legal Dictionary
  2. necessity: Webster's New World Law Dictionary
  3. THE 'LECTRIC LAW LIBRARY'S REFERENCE ROOM (No longer online)
  4. Glossary of Legal Terms (No longer online)
  5. Bouvier's Law Dictionary 1856 Edition (No longer online)
  6. necessity: Legal dictionary
  7. BusinessDictionary.com (No longer online)

Computing (2 matching dictionaries)
  1. Necessity: Cybernetics and Systems
  2. Necessity (logic), Necessity (modal logic), necessity: Encyclopedia

Medicine (3 matching dictionaries)
  1. Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (No longer online)
  2. online medical dictionary (No longer online)
  3. necessity: Medical dictionary

Miscellaneous (1 matching dictionary)
  1. necessity: Idioms

Religion (1 matching dictionary)
  1. Necessity: Catholic Encyclopedia

Science (1 matching dictionary)
  1. necessity: PlanetMath Encyclopedia

Slang (1 matching dictionary)
  1. Necessity: Urban Dictionary

(Note: See necessities as well.)

Google, News, Images, Wikipedia, Reddit, BlueSky
Definitions from Wiktionary (
)
American English Definition British English Definition
▸ noun:  The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
▸ noun:  The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.
▸ noun:  Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
▸ noun:  Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.
▸ noun:  The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
▸ noun:  (law) Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.
▸ noun:  (law, in the plural) Indispensable requirements (of life).

Similar:
necessary, essential, requisite, requirement, impossibility, necessitation, importance, imperative, impracticality, unavoidability, more...

Opposite:
luxury, optionality, dispensability, nonessential, superfluity

Phrases:
of necessity, by necessity, Military necessity, logical necessity, Medical necessity, more...

Adjectives:
absolute, economic, urgent, military, logical, political, practical, vital, natural, dire, moral

Colors:
    gray,     beige,     white,     black,     olive, more...



▸ Words similar to necessity

▸ Usage examples for necessity

▸ Idioms related to necessity

▸ Wikipedia articles (New!)

▸ Popular adjectives describing necessity

▸ Words that often appear near necessity

▸ Rhymes of necessity

▸ Invented words related to necessity

Similar:
necessary, essential, requisite, requirement, impossibility, necessitation, importance, imperative, impracticality, unavoidability, more...

Opposite:
luxury, optionality, dispensability, nonessential, superfluity

Phrases:
of necessity, by necessity, Military necessity, logical necessity, Medical necessity, fort necessity, Metaphysical necessity, necessity defense, manifest necessity, operational necessity, more...

Adjectives:
absolute, economic, urgent, military, logical, political, practical, vital, natural, dire, moral

Colors:
    gray,     beige,     white,     black,     olive, more...



Writing poetry or lyrics? You can find related words that match a given meter.
This feature is permanently available from the "Related words" tab and from the Thesaurus.


(Click a button above to see words related to "necessity" that fit the given meter.)



Home   Reverse Dictionary / Thesaurus   Datamuse   Word games   Spruce   Feedback   Dark mode   Random word   Help


Color thesaurus

Use OneLook to find colors for words and words for colors

See an example

Literary notes

Use OneLook to learn how words are used by great writers

See an example

Word games

Try our innovative vocabulary games

Play Now

Read the latest OneLook newsletter issue: Threepeat Redux