# necessity

> English word · Noun · IPA /nɪˈsɛsəti/ · frequency rank #8,175

## Definitions
1. The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
2. The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.
3. Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
4. Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.
5. The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
6. Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.
7. Indispensable requirements (of life).

## Etymology
From Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitās (“unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency, necessity”), from necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”); see necessary. Doublet of Necessitas.

## Easily confused with
- **necessary** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/necessary-vs-necessity)

## Common misspellings (12)
`encessity`, `nceessity`, `neccessity`, `necesisty`, `necesity`, `necessitty`, `necessityy`, `necessiyt`, `necesstiy`, `necsesity`, `neecssity`, `nnecessity`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/necessity