necessity

[nuh-ses-i-tee] /nəˈsɛs ɪ ti/
noun, plural necessities.
1.
something necessary or indispensable:
food, shelter, and other necessities of life.
2.
the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability:
the necessity of adequate housing.
3.
an imperative requirement or need for something:
the necessity for a quick decision.
4.
the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable:
to face the necessity of testifying in court.
5.
an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something:
not by choice but by necessity.
6.
a state of being in financial need; poverty:
a family in dire necessity.
7.
Philosophy. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.
Idioms
8.
of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily:
Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.
Origin
1325-75; Middle English necessite < Latin necessitās, equivalent to necess(e) needful + -itās -ity
Related forms
nonnecessity, noun, plural nonnecessities.
supernecessity, noun, plural supernecessities.
Synonyms
3. demand. See need. 6. neediness, indigence, want.
British Dictionary definitions for of necessity

necessity

/nɪˈsɛsɪtɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
(sometimes pl) something needed for a desired result; prerequisite: necessities of life
2.
a condition or set of circumstances, such as physical laws or social rules, that inevitably requires a certain result: it is a matter of necessity to wear formal clothes when meeting the Queen
3.
the state or quality of being obligatory or unavoidable
4.
urgent requirement, as in an emergency or misfortune: in time of necessity we must all work together
5.
poverty or want
6.
(rare) compulsion through laws of nature; fate
7.
(philosophy)
  1. a condition, principle, or conclusion that cannot be otherwise
  2. the constraining force of physical determinants on all aspects of life Compare freedom (sense 8)
8.
(logic)
  1. the property of being necessary
  2. a statement asserting that some property is essential or statement is necessarily true
  3. the operator that indicates that the expression it modifies is true in all possible worlds Usual symbol □, ∟
9.
of necessity, inevitably; necessarily
Word Origin and History for of necessity

necessity

n.

late 14c., "constraining power of circumstances," from Old French necessité "need, necessity; privation, poverty; distress, torment; obligation, duty" (12c.), from Latin necessitatem (nominative necessitas) "compulsion, need for attention, unavoidableness, destiny," from necesse (see necessary). Meaning "condition of being in need" in English is from late 15c.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention. [Richard Franck, c.1624-1708, English author and angler, "Northern Memoirs," 1658]
To maken vertu of necessite is in Chaucer. Related: Necessities.

Idioms and Phrases with of necessity

of necessity

Also, out of necessity. As an inevitable consequence, unavoidably, as in the New Testament: “Of necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast” (Luke 23:17). [ Late 1300s ]

necessity

In addition to the idiom beginning with
necessity
also see: