Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828)

Displaying 2 result(s) from the 1913 edition:

Necessary (Page: 967)

Nec"es*sa*ry (?), a. [L. necessarius, from necesse unavoidable, necessary; of uncertain origin: cf. F. nécessaire.]

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.

Necessary (Page: 967)

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.