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

That necessitated a move to a small venue. —Jonathan Shikes, Denver Post, 28 May 2026

The creation of a plan will necessitate dialogue among staff and board members initially and then annually in order to stay as current as possible. —Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026

Queen Sonja previously had a pacemaker installed in January 2025 after experiencing atrial fibrillation during a ski vacation, which necessitated her being airlifted to the hospital in Lillehammer. —Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 27 May 2026

Local newspapers at the time didn’t seem to know the whole story and only reported that Power’s Hollywood duties had necessitated the rescheduling of a week of performances at the playhouse. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 26 May 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