necessity

== English == === 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. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /nɪˈsɛsəti/ Hyphenation: ne‧ces‧si‧ty === Noun === necessity (countable and uncountable, plural necessities) The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite. The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack. Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable. 20th century, Tenzin Gyatso (attributed) Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power. The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism. (Can we add an example for this sense?) (law) Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act. (law, in the plural) Indispensable requirements (of life). ==== Synonyms ==== (state of being necessary): necessariness, inevitability, needfulness, certainty (requisite): requirement ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “state of being necessary”): impossibility, contingency (antonym(s) of “something indispensable”): luxury ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== Further reading ==== “necessity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “necessity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. === Anagrams === cysteines