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# necessity

«necessity» in Mova's school dictionary: **Something that you need and cannot do without: water is a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a necessity, necessities)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Something that you need and cannot do without: water is a necessity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#m1)

2) The fact of being needed: the necessity of sleep. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#m2)

3) (formal) A situation that forces you to do something: out of necessity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#m3)

4) necessities (plural): the basic things needed to live, such as food and shelter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In geography and life lessons, pupils learn the difference between needs (necessities) and wants (luxuries). In stories, characters act «out of necessity». Saying: «Necessity is the mother of invention» means people invent things when they really need them. Phrases: a basic necessity, out of necessity, of necessity (formal).

### examples

- Food, water and shelter are basic necessities. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x1)
- A coat is a necessity in a Canadian winter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x2)
- Is a phone a necessity or a luxury? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x3)
- They walked to school out of necessity because the bus broke down. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x4)
- Necessity is the mother of invention. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x5)
- Sleep is a necessity, not a choice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x6)
- We packed only the necessities for camping. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x7)
- I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/#x8)

### note

Countable: necessities (y to ies). Spelling trap: one c, double s: neCeSSity. Adjective: necessary (also one c, double s). Opposite: luxury.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «necessity» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/necessity/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.