'Necessary' definitions:
Definition of 'necessary'
From: WordNet
adjective
Absolutely essential [ant: unnecessary, unneeded]
adjective
Unavoidably determined by prior circumstances; "the necessary consequences of one's actions"
noun
Anything indispensable; "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" [syn: necessity, essential, requirement, requisite, necessary] [ant: inessential, nonessential]
Definition of 'Necessary'
From: GCIDE
- Necessary \Nec"es*sa*ry\, a. [L. necessarius, from necesse unavoidable, necessary; of uncertain origin: cf. F. n['e]cessaire.]
- 1. Such as must be; impossible to be otherwise; not to be avoided; inevitable. [1913 Webster]
- Death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Impossible to be otherwise, or to be dispensed with, without preventing the attainment of a desired result; indispensable; requisite; essential. "'T is necessary he should die." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- A certain kind of temper is necessary to the pleasure and quiet of our minds. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Acting from necessity or compulsion; involuntary; -- opposed to free; as, whether man is a necessary or a free agent is a question much discussed. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Necessary'
From: GCIDE
- Necessary \Nec"es*sa*ry\, n.; pl. Necessaries.
- 1. A thing that is necessary or indispensable to some purpose; something that one can not do without; a requisite; an essential; -- used chiefly in the plural; as, the necessaries of life. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A privy; a water-closet. [1913 Webster]
- 3. pl. (Law) Such things, in respect to infants, lunatics, and married women, as are requisite for support suitable to station. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'necessary'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- absolute,
- apodictic,
- backhouse,
- binding,
- bound,
- called for,
- cardinal,
- certain,
- choiceless,
- clear,
- clear and distinct,
- clear as day,
- closet,
- compelling,
- compulsory,
- conclusive,
- constraining,
- crapper,
- de rigueur,
- decisive,
- definite,
- determinate,
- dictated,
- essential,
- exigent,
- fated,
- fateful,
- fundamental,
- imperative,
- imperious,
- important,
- importunate,
- indefeasible,
- indicated,
- indispensable,
- ineluctable,
- ineludible,
- inerrable,
- inerrant,
- inescapable,
- inevasible,
- inevitable,
- inexorable,
- infallible,
- inflexible,
- involuntary,
- irreducible,
- irreductible,
- irreplaceable,
- irresistible,
- irrevocable,
- jakes,
- mandatory,
- momentous,
- must,
- necessitous,
- needed,
- needful,
- obligatory,
- office,
- outhouse,
- peremptory,
- perfectly sure,
- positive,
- predestined,
- predetermined,
- prerequisite,
- relentless,
- required,
- requisite,
- resistless,
- significant,
- sure,
- sure as death,
- sure as fate,
- sure-enough,
- true,
- unambiguous,
- unavoidable,
- uncontrollable,
- undeflectable,
- unequivocal,
- unerring,
- unevadable,
- unforgoable,
- univocal,
- unmistakable,
- unpreventable,
- unstoppable,
- unyielding,
- urgent,
- vital,
- wanted,
- without choice