necessary
[ nes-uh-ser-ee ]
/ ˈnɛs əˌsɛr i /
adjective
being essential, indispensable, or requisite: a necessary part of the motor.
happening or existing by necessity: a necessary change in our plans.
acting or proceeding from compulsion or necessity; not free; involuntary: a necessary agent.
Logic.
- (of a proposition) such that a denial of it involves a self-contradiction.
- (of an inference or argument) such that its conclusion cannot be false if its supporting premises are true.
- (of a condition) such that it must exist if a given event is to occur or a given thing is to exist.Compare sufficient(def 2).
noun, plural nec·es·sar·ies.
Origin of necessary
1300–50; Middle English
necessarie < Latin
necessārius unavoidable, inevitable, needful, equivalent to
necess(e) (neuter indeclinable adj.) unavoidable, necessary +
-ārius
-ary
SYNONYMS FOR necessary
1 required,
needed.
Necessary,
essential,
indispensable,
requisite indicate something vital for the fulfillment of a need.
Necessary applies to something without which a condition cannot be fulfilled or to an inevitable consequence of certain events, conditions, etc.:
Food is necessary to life. Multiplicity is a necessary result of division.
Indispensable applies to something that cannot be done without or removed from the rest of a unitary condition:
Food is indispensable to living things. He made himself indispensable as a companion. Something that is
essential forms a vitally necessary condition of something:
Air is essential to red-blooded animals. It is essential to understand the matter clearly.
Requisite applies to what is thought necessary to fill out, complete, or perfect something:
She had all the requisite qualifications for a position.
5 requirement, requisite, essential.
OTHER WORDS FROM necessary
nec·es·sar·i·ness, noun qua·si-nec·es·sar·y, adjectiveWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH necessary
necessary necessitous (see synonym study at the current entry)Words nearby necessary
Example sentences from the Web for necessary
British Dictionary definitions for necessary
necessary
/ (ˈnɛsɪsərɪ) /
adjective
noun
the necessary informal
the money required for a particular purpose
do the necessary informal
to do something that is necessary in a particular situation
See also
necessaries
Word Origin for necessary
C14: from Latin
necessārius indispensable, from
necesse unavoidable