necessities

Noun

necessity (countable and uncountable, plural necessities)

1. The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
   • I bought a new table out of necessity. My old one was ruined.

   Synonyms:

   necessariness, inevitability, needfulness, certainty

2. 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, Richard Sibbes, “The Successful Seeker”, in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, D.D., Volume VI, James Nichol, page 125
3. Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
   • A tent is a necessity if you plan on camping.

   Synonyms:

   requisite

4. 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.
5. The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
6. Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.
   • doctrine of necessity

See all 7 meanings of necessity