Hypertext Webster Gateway: "necessary"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
2. A privy; a water-closet.
3. pl. (Law) Such things, in respect to infants, lunatics,
and married women, as are requisite for support suitable
to station.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
Death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.
--Shak.
2. Impossible to be otherwise, or to be dispensed with,
without preventing the attainment of a desired result;
indispensable; requiste; essential. ``'T is necessary he
should die.'' --Shak.
A certain kind of temper is necessary to the
pleasure and quiet of our minds. --Tillotson.
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
necessary
adj 1: absolutely essential [ant: {unnecessary}]
2: unavoidably determined by prior circumstances; "the
necessary consequences of one's actions"
n : 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}] [ant: {inessential}]
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