necessity
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 →
2) The fact of being needed: the necessity of sleep. tree →
3) (formal) A situation that forces you to do something: out of necessity. tree →
4) necessities (plural): the basic things needed to live, such as food and shelter. tree →
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 →
- A coat is a necessity in a Canadian winter. tree →
- Is a phone a necessity or a luxury? tree →
- They walked to school out of necessity because the bus broke down. tree →
- Necessity is the mother of invention. tree →
- Sleep is a necessity, not a choice. tree →
- We packed only the necessities for camping. tree →
- I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. tree →
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, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.