necessary
ne·ces·sary
adjective
noun
- “food and shelter are necessities of life”
- “the essentials of the good life”
- “allow farmers to buy their requirements under favorable conditions”
- “a place where the requisites of water fuel and fodder can be obtained”
Origin
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.
Phrases
- necessary condition
- necessary evil
- necessary house
- necessary place
- necessary room
- necessary stool
- necessary vault
- necessary woman
- socially necessary labour time
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See also
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.