necessity /nɪˈsɛsəti/noun 7forms 1phrases 1 noun7 •The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined.The report I wrote was of necessity rushed and full of errors. •Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping. •[in the plural] Indispensable requirements (of life). •Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.After eating a full meal, the human body's necessity for food will compel the person to eat again in the future. •The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism. •Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act. •The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.For it is in vain for a man to think to seek God in his necessity and exigence, if he seek not God in his ordinances, and do not joy in them. — 1863 formsnecessities Phrases with necessity make a virtue of necessityTo make the best of a difficult situation; to recast or portray an action or situation in which one has no alternatives as an action or situation which was deliberately chosen on its merits.
