necessary

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necessary^¹

/ˈnɛs.ə.sɹi/ UK
/ˈnɛs.əˌsɛ.ɹi/ UK
/ˈnɛs.əˌsɛ.ɹi/ US
/ˈnɛs.ə.ɹi/ nonstandard
/nᵻˈsɛsᵊ.ri/ India, North
/ˈnɛs.ə.sə.ri/ India, South

Where it comes from

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.

adjective necessarier · more necessary · necessariest · 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.
Similar: basic, essential, indispensable, necessar, necessary, necessitous, needed, prerequisite, required, requisite · Opposite: 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.
Similar: inevitable, natural · Opposite: 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.

noun necessaries · 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.
Similar: bathroom, latrine, necessarium, toilet, toilet room, urinal, water closet, WC, cloaca, closet, jacques, kocay
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, ...

Necessary^²

proper noun Necessarys

A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: requisite, necessity, requirement, needful, needed, essential, required, obligatory, indispensable, inevitable, necessitate, prerequisite, needs, need, must, necessarily

Translations

Every language

adj needed, required

Español	necesario, menester, preciso
한국어	필요하다 piryohada
日本語	必要 hitsuyō
中文	必要的 bìyào de
हिन्दी	ज़रूरी zarūrī, आवश्यक āvaśyak
Português	necessário
Français	nécessaire
Deutsch	nötig, notwendig, erforderlich
Italiano	necessario
Ελληνικά	απαραίτητος aparaítitos, ζωτικής σημασίας zotikís simasías
Română	necesar
Русский	необходи́мый neobxodímyj, ну́жный núžnyj
Tiếng Việt	cần, cần thiết
العربية	ضَرُورِيّ ḍarūriyy, لَازِم lāzim
עברית	נָחוּץ nahuts, הֶכְרֵחִי hekhrekhi

adj such as must be

Español	necesario
日本語	当然の tōzen no, 必然的な hitsuzenteki na
Português	necessário
Français	nécessaire
Deutsch	zwangsläufig, geboten
Italiano	necessario
Ελληνικά	αναπόφευκτος anapófefktos, αναπόδραστος anapódrastos

adj unavoidable, inevitable

Русский	неизбежный neizbezhnyy, неотвратимый neotvratimyy

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MLA

"necessary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/necessary. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

necessary. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/necessary

Chicago

"necessary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/necessary.

BibTeX

@misc{necessary_2026,
  title = {necessary},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/necessary},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}