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

As was first reported by Puck’s John Ourand, Netflix had to free up a good chunk of its in-game inventory for makegoods, a palliative measure necessitated by under-deliveries for its Christmas Day NFL doubleheader. —Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 1 Apr. 2026

The process will also necessitate the implementation of new guidelines to standardize the materials used for mass-scale implementation. —Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 31 Mar. 2026

The team has also said that multiple people's DNA was found on some items at the scene, necessitating more analysis. —Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026

The Dane’s appointment in September was a quick pivot necessitated by Erik ten Hag’s sacking after just two league games in charge for the former Manchester United manager, rather than being representative of any long-term strategy. —Andy Naylor, New York Times, 30 Mar. 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