Word.ws English Dictionary

necessarium

UK/ˌnɛsɪˈsɛəɹɪəm//ˌnɛsɪˈsɛɹi.əm/

necessarium noun: synonym of reredorter: a monastery's latrine, outhouse, or lavatory, typically located behind the dormitory.

Noun (1)

necessarium (plural necessariums or necessaria)

  1. Synonym of reredorter: a monastery's latrine, outhouse, or lavatory, typically located behind the dormitory.
    • The other outlet from the pisalis […] leads to the necessarium, in the corner of which a light […] is kept burning.1848, The Archaeological Journal, volume V, page 101
    • A passage at the other end [of the dormitory] leads to the “necessarium” (I), a portion of the monastic buildings always planned with extreme care.1878, "Abbey" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. I, p. 13
    Synonyms:
    reredorter
  2. (capitalized, humorous, sometimes) A lavatory.
    • Viewers […] don't mind having a hundred variations, from ‘The Necessarium’ to ‘The Thunder-Box’ to choose from.1967 December 21, The Listener, page 802

Noun (2) capitalized: Necessarium

Necessarium (plural Necessariums or Necessaria)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of necessarium.

Synonyms of necessarium

Forms of necessarium

pluralnecessariums
pluralnecessaria
alternative formNecessarium
pluralNecessariums
pluralNecessaria

Origin of necessarium

From Latin necessarium (“reredorter; outhouse”), from necesse (“unavoidable or necessary [thing]”) + -ārium (“-arium, -ium: forming locations”).

Words formed from necessarium

Words that rhyme with necessarium

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about necessarium

What does necessarium mean?
Necessarium means synonym of reredorter: a monastery's latrine, outhouse, or lavatory, typically located behind the dormitory.
What part of speech is necessarium?
Necessarium is a noun.
How do you pronounce necessarium?
Necessarium is pronounced /ˌnɛsɪˈsɛəɹɪəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of necessarium?
The plural of necessarium is necessariums.

Words near necessarium in the dictionary

  1. necessarier
  2. necessaries
  3. necessariest
  4. necessarily
  5. necessariness
  6. necessarium
  7. necessariums
  8. necessarry
  9. necessars
  10. necessary
  11. necessary condition

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: necessarium (page history and authors); Necessarium (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-necessarium.wav.

Cite this entry: “necessarium.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/necessarium. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.