'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]

Words containing 'Necessary'