Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Necessity
Ne-ces′si-ty
,Noun.
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. Shakespeare
The extreme poverty and
necessity
his majesty was in. Clarendon.
3.
That which is necessary; a necessary; a requisite; something indispensable; – often in the plural.
These should be hours for
Not for delights.
necessities
,Not for delights.
Shakespeare
What was once to me
Mere matter of the fancy, now has grown
The vast
Mere matter of the fancy, now has grown
The vast
necessity
of heart and life. Tennyson.
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
The tyrant’s plea, excused his devilish deeds.
necessity
,The tyrant’s plea, excused his devilish deeds.
Milton.
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.
Syn. – See
Need
. Webster 1828 Edition
Necessity
NECESSITY
,Noun.
1.
That which must be and cannot be otherwise, or the cause of that which cannot be otherwise. It is of necessity that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time. It is of necessity that two contradictory propositions cannot both be true.2.
Irresistible power; compulsive force, physical or moral. If mans actions are determined by causes beyond his control, he acts from necessity, and is not a free agent. Necessity compelled the general to act on the defensive.3.
Indispensableness; the state of being requisite. The necessity of funds to support public credit, no man questions. The necessity of economy in domestic concerns is admitted. No man can plead necessity in excuse for crimes.4.
Extreme indigence; pinching poverty; pressing need.The cause of all the distractions in his court or army proceeded from the extreme poverty and necessity his majesty was in.
5.
Unavoidableness; inevitableness; as the necessity of a consequence from certain premises.6.
In the plural, things requisite for a purpose.These should be hors for necessities, Not for delights.