Definition of "necessary" in English

adjective

1. Required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.

   • Although I wished to think that all was false, it was yet necessary that I, who thus thought, must in some sense exist.
   • It is absolutely necessary that you call and confirm your appointment.

2. Unavoidable, inevitable.

   • If it is absolutely necessary to use public computers, you should plan ahead and forward your e-mail to a temporary, disposable account.

3. (obsolete) Determined, involuntary: acting from compulsion rather than free will.

noun

1. (chiefly UK, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, archaic, euphemistic, usually with the definite article) A place to do the "necessary" business of urination and defecation: an outhouse or lavatory.

2. (obsolete) Necessity.