necessitate

1 of 2

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

necessitation

2 of 2

noun

ne·​ces·​si·​ta·​tion

plural -s

: the act of necessitating or condition of being necessitated

the absence of necessitation by the past

—A. C. Ewing

is good by free choice, not necessitation

—Nicholas Rescher

Synonyms of necessitate

Verb

• require
• need

Examples of necessitate in a Sentence

Verb

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

Verb

This Raging Bull’s additional wrath necessitated some styling cues to address that fact. — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 15 Aug. 2026

The crash sparked a wildfire in the area which necessitated a large emergency response. — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 14 Aug. 2026

For Elhawary, these unintended consequences of the 2024 legislation — substantiated only anecdotally, without concrete data — necessitated her new bill. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 13 Aug. 2026

The president said he was unbothered by the assassination threats that necessitated the ruse, saying that only consequential presidents get targeted. — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 12 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

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