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Necessity   /nəsˈɛsəti/  /nəsˈɛsɪti/   Listen
noun
Necessity  n.  (pl. necessities)  
1.
The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite; inevitableness; indispensableness.
2.
The condition of being needy or necessitous; pressing need; indigence; want. "Urge the necessity and state of times." "The extreme poverty and necessity his majesty was in."
3.
That which is necessary; a necessary; a requisite; something indispensable; often in the plural. "These should be hours for necessities, Not for delights." "What was once to me Mere matter of the fancy, now has grown The vast necessity of heart and life."
4.
That which makes an act or an event unavoidable; irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical or moral; fate; fatality. "So spake the fiend, and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds."
5.
(Metaph.) The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
Of necessity, by necessary consequence; by compulsion, or irresistible power; perforce.
Synonyms: See Need.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Necessity" Quotes from Famous Books



... many points in common with New York, also possesses that. She has limits. Her limits took in more than we bargained for,—for they have taken us into the bargain. Still they are there, and we bow to necessity. A cheerful drive, a quiet tea, early to bed. And ...
— The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary • Anne Warner

... one, when we crept towards Rome through the wintry midnight, benumbed with cold, ill, weary, and not knowing whither to betake ourselves. Ah! that was a dismal tine! One thing, however, that disturbed even my present equanimity a little was the necessity of meeting the custom-house at the Porta del Popolo; but my past experience warranted me in believing that even these ogres might be mollified by the magic touch of a scudo; and so it proved. We should have escaped any examination at all, the officer whispered ...
— Passages From the French and Italian Notebooks, Complete • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... Seen at that distance, the newcomers looked ugly customers; they had me in a trap, and, had I possessed pistols, I verily believe that I should have "looked to the priming." But, having no alternatives of that kind before me, necessity determined the policy I was to pursue, and I resolved at once for a friendly attitude. Waiting till the tramps were well within hearing, I thrust my head from the aforesaid aperture and ...
— Mad Shepherds - and Other Human Studies • L. P. Jacks

... portion of this illuminative reason and true philosophy is the highest state to which nature can aspire, in the way of intellect; it puts the mind above the influences of chance and necessity, above anxiety, suspense, unsettlement, and superstition, which is the lot of the many. Men, whose minds are possessed with some one object, take exaggerated views of its importance, are feverish ...
— English Prose - A Series of Related Essays for the Discussion and Practice • Frederick William Roe (edit. and select.)

... moved, and displayed ourselves in full view of the town, crowds gazing at us. We were plunging ourselves into certain destruction or success. There was no midway thought of. We had but little to say to our men, except inculcating an idea of the necessity of obedience, etc. We knew they did not want encouraging, and that anything might be attempted with them that was possible for such a number,—perfectly cool, under proper subordination, pleased with the prospect before them, and much attached to their ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 • Charles H. Sylvester


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