necessity English · revision 15024

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1374|origins=la necesse}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /nəˈses.ə.ti/, US /nəˈses.ə.t̬i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|necessite]], [[bor|fro|necessité|t=need, privation, obligation]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from [[la|necessitās|t=compulsion, unavoidableness, destiny]], from [[m|la|necesse|t=needful, necessary]] (see [[necessary]]).^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The fact of being inevitably determined: about 1374 in the OED, now obsolete.^(OED 1989) The constraining power of circumstances, compulsion: 1382 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The condition of being in need, poverty, is also from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) Compulsion grounded in the nature of things is from 1423,^(OED 1989) and philosophical and logical necessity from 1587.^(OED 1989) ''Of necessity'', unavoidably, is from 1387–8.^(OED 1989) The proverb ''necessity is the mother of invention'' is quoted from the English author Richard Franck in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) In Somerset and Devon dialect necessity was a spirit illicitly distilled from cider dregs.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – inevitability.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1382 – constraint of circumstances.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1387–8 – of necessity.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1423 – natural necessity.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1587 – logical necessity.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something needed or essential: ''the necessities of life''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The condition of being necessary or unavoidable.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A condition of things, such as physical law or social rule, that inevitably requires a result.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Urgent need, especially poverty or want.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[necessitarian]]

+ * [[necessitous]]

+ * [[nonnecessity]]

+ * [[money of necessity]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[necessary]]

+ * [[necessitate]]

+ * [[necessitude]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}