Necessary

How to spell necessary

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce necessary

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does necessary mean?

1. adjectiveRequired to be done or present; essential and unavoidable.

Necessary in a sentence

• It is necessary to read the instructions carefully.

• Is it really necessary to wear a tie?

• Take only what is necessary for the journey.

Where does necessary come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin necessarius, meaning 'unavoidable' or 'indispensable'. It was built on necesse, an adjective meaning 'inevitable' or 'needful', which most scholars trace to ne- ('not') combined with cedere ('to give way, to yield'): something necessary is literally something you cannot give way to or get around. English took it up in the fourteenth century, partly through Anglo-French necessarie, with the meaning 'required, essential' that it still carries today. The single 'c' followed by a double 's' is exactly the spelling trap, because the word sounds as though it could have a double 'c' as well; the cedere root explains the genuine 'c' but offers no second one. A handy memory aid is that the word needs one Collar (c) and two Sleeves (s).

How the word is built

• ne- (not)
• cess (yield)
• -ary (suffix)