DictionaryAI

necessary

NES-uh-ser-ee/ˈnɛsəˌsɛɹi/NES-uh-sree/ˈnɛsəsɹi/

Noun pluralnecessaries, necessarys

5 meanings of necessary

Practice

  1. 1
    requiredadjective
    Needed or indispensable, either because logic leaves no alternative or because a goal cannot otherwise be reached or a penalty avoided.

    Securing additional funding proved necessary to complete the research.

    It is necessary to obtain consent before processing personal data.

    UsageSay it is necessary to ask, or necessary for someone to do it. If necessary means if needed.

    Similaressential, needed, required, indispensable, requisite

    Oppositeunnecessary

  2. 2
    certain to happenadjective
    Bound to occur no matter what; unavoidable and inevitable.

    He regarded the empire's fall as necessary, the certain end of a long decline.

    Such wear is a necessary consequence of constant friction between the parts.

    Similarinevitable

    Oppositeincidental

    Note

    Here necessity concerns what will happen, not what is needed. This meaning stays closest to the Latin "unavoidable" behind the everyday "required" meaning. Shakespeare's Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar (1623) calls death "a necessary end" that "will come." The opposites show the difference: evitable or incidental, not unnecessary. If inevitable fits the sentence, this is the meaning at work.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The Latin ancestor necesse means unavoidable or inevitable. en.wiktionary.org
    • Julius Caesar is a play by William Shakespeare. en.wikipedia.org
    • First published in 1623 in the First Folio; 1599 is the probable composition and first-performance year. folgerpedia.folger.edu
    • The play calls death a necessary end that will come; Caesar speaks the words in Act 2, Scene 2. folger.edu
  3. 3
    nounarchaiceuphemistic
    A genteel, old-fashioned word for a privy or lavatory: an outhouse or indoor toilet.

    Similartoilet, lavatory, bathroom, restroom, washroom

    Note

    A polite way around a blunter word, built on the idea of doing one's "necessary" business. Don Corbly's The Last Colonials (2009) uses it of colonial outhouses and spells the plural necessarys: affluent settlers painted theirs in bright colors.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The toilet sense is a euphemism referring to necessary bodily business. en.wiktionary.org
    • Don Corbly wrote The Last Colonials. en.wiktionary.org
    • Corbly uses necessary for colonial outhouses, spells its plural necessarys, and describes affluent settlers painting them bright colors. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    essential thingnoun
    Something needed for life or for some purpose; now used mainly in the plural, necessaries.

    Among a soldier's necessaries were powder, shot, and a day's bread.

    Under contract law, a minor can usually be made to pay a fair price for necessaries such as food, clothing, and shelter.

    UsageMostly plural: necessaries such as food and shelter. For one needed thing, a necessity is the usual word.

    Note

    A noun for a needful thing, now met mostly in the plural. A Rhode Island colonial document from the decades around 1700 lists ships, seamen and "other necessarys" next to provisions, meaning things a colony cannot do without.

  2. 5
    adjectiveobsolete
    Acting under compulsion rather than free will; determined and involuntary.
    Note

    A philosopher's adjective for whatever acts by compulsion, set against free will. Richard Holt Hutton's Essays (1871) contrasts "a necessary being" with one that has "moral freedom." The usage is now obsolete. Modern writers say determined or compelled. A reader who meets "a necessary agent" in older philosophy should take it to mean "unfree," not "indispensable."

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • In older philosophy, necessary can describe an agent acting without free choice. ccel.org
    • Richard Holt Hutton's Essays, Theological and Literary was first published in 1871. en.wikisource.org
    • Hutton contrasts a necessary being with a being possessing moral freedom, using the quoted expressions. en.wiktionary.org
    • Necessary agent can mean an agent without free choice rather than an indispensable agent. ccel.org

Practice

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Origin

Middle English necessarye came through Old French necessaire from Latin necessārius ('required, unavoidable'), formed from necesse ('unavoidable'). Its deeper origin is uncertain, but probably involves ne ('not') and cēdō ('yield, withdraw'). The old toilet sense was influenced by medieval Latin necessārium, a name for a monastery's communal toilet, commonly adjoining the monks' sleeping quarters.