necessary

Syllables: ne·ces·sar·y/ˈnɛs.ə.sɹi//ˈnɛs.əˌsɛ.ɹi/

necessary adjective: required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.

Adjective

necessary (comparative necessarier or more necessary, superlative necessariest or most necessary)

Required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.
- Although I wished to think that all was false, it was yet necessary that I, who thus thought, must in some sense exist.
- It is absolutely necessary that you call and confirm your appointment.
Synonyms:

basic, essential, indispensable, necessar, necessitous, needed, prerequisite, required, requisite

Antonyms:

unnecessary
Unavoidable, inevitable.
- If it is absolutely necessary to use public computers, you should plan ahead and forward your e-mail to a temporary, disposable account.
- Cæs. Cowards dye many times before their deaths,
  The valiant neuer taste of death but once:
  Of all the Wonders that I yet haue heard,
  It seemes to me most strange that men should feare,
  Seeing that death, a necessary end
  Will come, when it will come.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Synonyms:

inevitable, natural

Antonyms:

evitable, incidental, impossible
(obsolete) Determined, involuntary: acting from compulsion rather than free will.
- But that a necessary being should give birth to a being with any amount, however limited, of moral freedom, is infinitely less conceivable than that parents of the insect or fish type should give birth to a perfect mammal.1871, Richard Holt Hutton, Essays, volume I, page 53

Noun

necessary (plural necessaries or necessarys)

(archaic, euphemistic) A place to do the "necessary" business of urination and defecation: an outhouse or lavatory.
- It soon became fashionable for even the poorest families to have a necessary not far from their cabin. […] The more affluent settlers painted their necessarys in bright colors and carved their names on the doors.2009, Don Corbly, The Last Colonials, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 67
Synonyms:

bathroom, latrine, necessarium, toilet, toilet room, urinal, water closet, WC, cloaca, closet
(obsolete) Necessity.
- […] loss of that whole dominion of New England, and consequently of their Majesties' other American Plantations, endangered not only by the want of provisions, but by the many ships, vessels, seamen and other necessarys in New England, ...1858, Rhode Island, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England: 1678-1706, page 285

Proper noun capitalized: Necessary

Necessary (plural Necessarys)

A surname.

necessary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

necessary in Hindi

needed, required: ज़रूरी zarūrī, आवश्यक āvaśyak

necessary in Tamil

needed, required: தேவையான tēvaiyāṉa

necessary in Marathi

necessary: अवश्य avaśya, आवश्यक āvaśyak, अगत्य agatya

necessary in Urdu

needed, required: ضروری zarūrī, لازِمی lāzimī

More languagesFewer languages

necessary in Bengali: জরুরি joruri, দরকার dorkar, প্রয়োজন proẏōjon, প্রয়োজনীয় proẏōjoniẏo
necessary in Telugu: అవసరమైన avasaramaina, కావాల్సిన kāvālsina
necessary in Malayalam: ആവശ്യം āvaśyaṁ
necessary in Kannada: ಆವಶ್ಯಕ āvaśyaka, ಅಗತ್ಯ agatya
necessary in Punjabi: ਲੋੜੀਂਦਾ loṛīndā
necessary in Gujarati: આવશ્યક āvaśyak
necessary in Odia: ଦରକାର୍ darakār, ଜରୁରୀ jaruri
necessary in Sanskrit: आवश्यक āvaśyaka, नित्य nítya
necessary in Assamese: জৰুৰী zoruri
necessary in Nepali: आवश्यक, जरूरी jarūrī
necessary in Pashto: ضروري zarurí, لازم lāzém, اړين aṛín
necessary in Tagalog: kailangan
necessary in Arabic: ضَرُورِيّ ḍarūriyy, لَازِم lāzim
necessary in Malay: perlu
necessary in Indonesian: perlu, penting
necessary in Persian: لازم lâzem, ضروری zaruri, بایسته bâyeste, واجب vâjeb
necessary in Thai: จำเป็น jam-bpen
necessary in Vietnamese: cần, cần thiết
necessary in Myanmar: လိုအပ် luiap

Examples of necessary in a sentence

Abstraction is necessary for the classification of things into genera and species.
It's the contractor's responsibility to pull the necessary permits before starting work.
I think the new laws are extreme, but many believe them necessary for national security.

All 40 example sentences with necessary

Synonyms of necessary

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of necessary

Forms of necessary

Adjective
comparative	necessarier
comparative	more necessary
superlative	necessariest
superlative	most necessary
Noun
plural	necessaries
plural	necessarys
Proper noun
plural	Necessarys

Origin of necessary

From Middle English necessarye, from Old French necessaire, from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable, inevitable, required”), variant of necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”), probably from ne or non cessum, from the perfect passive participle of cēdō (“yield; avoid, withdraw”); see cede. Older use as a noun in reference to an outhouse or lavatory under the influence of English and Latin necessārium, a medieval term for the place for monks’ “unavoidable” business, usually located behind or attached to monastic dormitories.

Words formed from necessary

Phrases with necessary

Questions about necessary

What does necessary mean?: Necessary means required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.
What is necessary in Hindi?: Necessary in Hindi is ज़रूरी (zarūrī), आवश्यक (āvaśyak). See Necessary meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is necessary?: Necessary can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce necessary?: Necessary is pronounced /ˈnɛs.ə.sɹi/ (UK).

Words near necessary in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-necessary.wav, en-us-necessary.ogg.

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