necessitate

verb

ne·​ces·​si·​tate ni-ˈse-sə-ˌtāt 

necessitated; necessitating

transitive verb

1

: to make necessary : require

Business was growing, which necessitated the hiring of additional employees.

2

: force, compel

was necessitated to choose some other route

necessitation

ni-ˌse-sə-ˈtā-shən 

noun

Synonyms of necessitate

• require
• need

Examples of necessitate in a Sentence

New safety regulations necessitated adding a railing to the stairs.

getting new shoes would necessitate another trip to the mall

Recent Examples on the Web

The May 15 fire at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont sent plumes of black smoke into the sky and necessitated a response from hundreds of firefighters to a rural part of the state. —ABC News, 15 June 2026

Of course, the modern, rapidly changing technological means of war, being vastly more versatile, fast, furtive, precise, numerous, farther reaching and lethal, will necessitate revisiting the principles of just wars. —Keith Tidman, Baltimore Sun, 15 June 2026

Rejoining will necessitate difficult negotiations over the terms of re-entry and, doubtless, a heated argument at home. —Anand Menon, Time, 13 June 2026

However, a dominant run in the minors — coupled with the Royals’ desire to infuse life into their beleaguered offense — necessitated a move. —Kansas City Star, 11 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1625, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for necessitate

• abbreviate
• accelerate
• accommodate
• accumulate
• acuminate
• adjudicate
• adulterate
• affiliate
• agglomerate
• agglutinate
• alleviate
• amalgamate

Kids Definition

necessitate

verb

ne·​ces·​si·​tate ni-ˈses-ə-ˌtāt 

necessitated; necessitating

: to make necessary

sick enough to necessitate staying home

necessitation

-ˌses-ə-ˈtā-shən 

noun