[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

necessity \neces"sity\, n.; pl. necessities. oe. necessite,
   f. n'ecessit'e, l. necessitas, fr. necesse. see
   necessary.
   1. the quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or
      absolutely requisite; inevitableness; indispensableness.
      1913 webster

   2. the condition of being needy or necessitous; pressing
      need; indigence; want.
      1913 webster

            urge the necessity and state of times. --shak.
      1913 webster

            the extreme poverty and necessity his majesty was
            in.                                   --clarendon.
      1913 webster

   3. that which is necessary; a necessary; a requisite;
      something indispensable; -- often in the plural.
      1913 webster

            these should be hours for necessities,
            not for delights.                     --shak.
      1913 webster

            what was once to me
            mere matter of the fancy, now has grown
            the vast necessity of heart and life. --tennyson.
      1913 webster

   4. that which makes an act or an event unavoidable;
      irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical
      or moral; fate; fatality.
      1913 webster

            so spake the fiend, and with necessity,
            the tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
                                                  --milton.
      1913 webster

   5. metaph. the negation of freedom in voluntary action; the
      subjection of all phenomena, whether material or
      spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
      1913 webster

   of necessity, by necessary consequence; by compulsion, or
      irresistible power; perforce.
      1913 webster

   syn: see need.
        1913 webster
see also:
necessities necessary of necessity need 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

necessity
     n 1: the condition of being essential or indispensable
     2: 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: essential, requirement, requisite, necessary
        ant: inessential
see also:
essential requirement requisite necessary inessential 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

126 moby thesaurus words for "necessity":
   absolute certainty, absoluteness, act of god, assurance,
   assuredness, bare cupboard, bare necessities, bare subsistence,
   beggarliness, beggary, call, call for, cause, certain knowledge,
   certainness, certainty, certitude, coaction, coercion, compulsion,
   compulsiveness, condition, constraint, dead certainty, decree,
   definiteness, demand, demand for, deprivation, desideration,
   desideratum, destitution, determinacy, determinateness, duress,
   empty purse, enforcement, essential, essentials, exigency, fate,
   fatefulness, force majeure, forcing, foredestiny,
   foregone conclusion, foreknowledge, foreordination,
   grinding poverty, gripe, hand-to-mouth existence, homelessness,
   impoverishment, indefeasibility, indigence, indispensable,
   indispensableness, ineluctability, inerrability, inerrancy,
   inescapableness, inevasibleness, inevitability,
   inevitable accident, inevitableness, inexorability, infallibilism,
   infallibility, inflexibility, irresistibility, irrevocability,
   lack, mendicancy, moneylessness, must, must item, necessaries,
   necessities, necessitousness, need, need for, needfulness,
   neediness, nonambiguity, noncontingency, obligation, obligement,
   occasion, pauperism, pauperization, penury, pinch, positiveness,
   predestination, predetermination, preordination, prerequirement,
   prerequisite, prescience, privation, probatum, proved fact,
   relentlessness, requirement, requisite, requisiteness, requisition,
   restraint, sine qua non, sureness, surety, the necessary,
   the needful, truth, unambiguity, unavoidable casualty,
   unavoidableness, uncontrollability, undeflectability,
   unequivocalness, univocity, unmistakableness, unpreventability,
   unyieldingness, vis major, want

[4] : Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

necessity. in general, whatever makes the contrary of a thing impossible, 
whatever may be the cause of such impossibilities, 
     2. whatever is done through necessity, is done without any intention, 
and as the act is done without will, q.v. and is compulsory, the agent is 
not legally responsible. bac. max. reg. 5. hence the maxim, necessity has no 
law; indeed necessity is itself a law which cannot be avoided nor infringed. 
clef des lois rom. h.t.; dig 10, 3, 10, 1; com. dig. pleader, 3 m 20, 3 m 
30. 
     3. it follows, then, that the acts of a man in violation of law., or to 
the injury of another, may be justified by necessity, because the actor has 
no will to do or not to do the thing, he is a mere tool; but, it is 
conceived, this necessity must be absolute and irresistible, in fact, or so 
presumed in point of law. 
     4. the cases which are justified by necessity, may be classed as 
follows: 
     i. for the preservation of life; as if two persons are on the same 
plank, and one must perish, the survivor is justified in having thrown off 
the other, who was thereby drowned. bac. max, reg. 5. 
     5.-2. obedience by a person subject to the power of another; for 
example, if a wife should commit a larceny with her husband, in this case 
the law presumes she acted by coercion of her husband, and, being compelled, 
by necessity, she is justifiable. 1 russ. cr. 16, 20; bac. max. reg. 5. 
     6.-3. those cases which arise from the act of god, or inevitable 
accident, or from the act of man, as public enemies. vide act of god; 
inevitable accident and also 15 vin. ab. 534 dane's ab h.t.; 2 stark. ev. 
713; marsh. ins. b. 1, c. 6, s. 3 jacob's intr. to. com. law. reg. 74. 
     7.-4. there is another species of necessity. the actor in these cases 
is not compelled to do the act whether he will or not, but he has no choice 
left but to do the act which may be injurious to another, or to lose the 
total use of his property. for example, when a man's lands are surrounded by 
those of others, so that he cannot enjoy them without trespassing on his 
neighbors. the way which is thus obtained, is called a way of necessity. 
gale and whatley on easements, 71; 11 co. 52; hob. 234; 1 saund. 323, note. 
see 3 rawle, r. 495; 3 m'cord, r. 131; id. 170; 14 mass. r. 56; 2 b.  c. 
96; 2 bing. r. 76; 8 t. r. 50; cro. jac. 170; 2 roll. ab. 60; 3 kent, com. 
423; 3 rawle's r. 492; 1 taunt. r. 279; 8 taunt. r. 24; st. r. 50; ham. n. 
p. 198; cro. jac. 170; 2 bouv. inst. n. 1637; and way. 

Necessity >> N Words
Necessity, definition of term: Necessity
necessity_pag1.html

Fort Necessity >> F Words
Fort Necessity, definition of term: Fort Necessity
fort+necessity_pag1.html

Fort Necessity National Battlefield (National Park Service)
...The road passed by Fort Necessity and bustled with traffic heading ... The Mount Washington Tavern was built near Fort Necessity as a ... ..
http://www.nps.gov/fone/, score=100, date indexed=December 29, 2005, 7:39 pm

Fort Necessity National Battlefield (National Park Service)
...The road passed by Fort Necessity and bustled with traffic heading ... The Mount Washington Tavern was built near Fort Necessity as a ... ..
http://www.nps.gov/fone/index.htm, score=91, date indexed=December 21, 2005, 6:29 am

Contents: Fort Necessity National Battlefield
...Fort Necessity Park Profile. Fort Necessity In Depth. Contact Us. ... French & Indian War. The Fort Necessity Campaign. The Jumonville ... ..
http://www.nps.gov/fone/home.htm, score=90, date indexed=December 30, 2005, 2:43 pm

The Necessity of Atheism
...The Necessity Of Atheism. [NOTE -- The Necessity of Atheism was ... Percy Bysshe Shelley: Necessity Of Atheism. The Necessity of Atheism. ... ..
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/percy_shelley/necessity_of_atheism.html, score=89, date indexed=January 10, 2006, 7:19 pm

Welcome to Necessity SportsFishing, Orange Beach, AL
...... Necessity Sportsfishing! The captain and crew of the Necessity invite ... We are pleased to announce that we have moved the Necessity charter ... ..
http://www.necessitysportsfishing.com/, score=87, date indexed=December 30, 2005, 4:20 pm

The Necessity of Reforming the Church (1543)
...The Necessity of Reforming the Church (1543). John Calvin Table of ... ..
http://www.swrb.ab.ca/newslett/actualnls/NRC_ch00.htm, score=72, date indexed=December 30, 2005, 2:56 pm

Welcome to Bare Necessity
... ..
http://www.barenecessity.co.uk/, score=63, date indexed=December 30, 2005, 2:59 pm

Contents: Fort Necessity National Battlefield
...Fort Necessity Park Profile. Fort Necessity In Depth. Contact Us. ... French & Indian War. The Fort Necessity Campaign. The Jumonville ... ..
http://www.nps.gov/fone/fonehome.htm, score=50, date indexed=December 21, 2005, 5:59 am

Page 1 2 Next