requisite

adjective

req·​ui·​site ˈre-kwə-zət 

: needed for a particular purpose : essential, necessary

has the requisite skills/knowledge/experience for the job

… the bill was ultimately pulled after it became clear it would not get the requisite number of votes needed to pass the House …

—Kaitlyn Schallhorn

Classic Korean dishes, such as braised short ribs and meat dumplings, would be set out alongside the requisite [Thanksgiving] turkey and mashed potatoes.

—Martha Fay

Politics, to one degree or another, are a requisite part of committee work …

—Angela D. Thompsell

requisite noun

plural requisites

For my part, I have never seen why a Ph.D. should be a requisite for college-level teaching.

—Andrew Hacker

requisiteness noun

… the moral optimality of their conduct does not eliminate the wrongness of what they have done or the requisiteness of legal sanctions in response.

—Matthew H. Kramer

Did you know?

Ask Us About Requisite

Acquiring an understanding of where requisite comes from won't require a formal inquiry. Without question, the quest begins with the Latin verb quaerere, which means "to ask" or "to seek." That word is ancestor to a number of English words, including acquire, require, inquiry, question, quest, and, of course, requisite. From quaerere came requirere, meaning "to ask again." Repeated requests can express a need, and the past participle of the Latin word requirere, which is requisitus, came to mean "needed" or "necessary." English acquired requisite when it was adopted into Middle English back in the 1400s.

Synonyms

• all-important
• critical
• essential
• imperative
• indispensable
• integral
• must-have
• necessary
• necessitous
• needed
• needful
• required
• vital

Examples of requisite in a Sentence

this new CD is the requisite album of the year for classical music lovers

Recent Examples on the Web

The government had been planning to conduct the requisite inspections and repairs to extend the life of select reactors in the fleet to 50 years when stress corrosion issues were found in several of the reactors, necessitating shutdowns. —Daniel Markind, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

Their goal will be to form a large enough coalition to secure the requisite 75% of the votes necessary to elect a pope. —Time, 7 May 2025

All stakeholders could do worse than consider Alexander Skarsgard’s offering of a Swedish James Bond, a superspy with all the requisite Bond trappings – tuxedo, licence to kill, way with the ladies – but with a particularly Scandinavian flair. —Caroline Frost, Deadline, 3 May 2025

Nevertheless, only a few cardinals have the requisite skills, experience and personality suitable to taking on the role of leading the Roman Catholic Church. —Alicia Johnson, CNN Money, 2 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin requisitus, past participle of requirere

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for requisite

• prerequisite

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Kids Definition

requisite

adjective

req·​ui·​site ˈrek-wə-zət 

: needed for reaching a goal or achieving a purpose

requisite noun

requisiteness noun