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

• 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

One that necessitates a completely fresh approach to health, wellbeing and longevity. —Check Warner Mbe, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025

Under that framework, any takeover executive action would likely necessitate an act of Congress and be challenged in court. —Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 6 Aug. 2025

That necessitated the exits of 11 players, most of whom were prospects. —Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Aug. 2025

There are two key factors that necessitate the study: A lack of clarity on what causes cancer across the board and a lack of knowledge about why southern states suffer higher rates, FHC chief communications officer Melissa Mather said. —Ruby Grisin, The Courier-Journal, 30 July 2025

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