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

• bear
• challenge
• claim
• demand
• need
• require
• take
• want
• warrant

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

These critics are largely unpersuaded by and impatient with American and Israeli arguments that Hamas alone necessitated this level of carnage by using human shields, or that a high civilian death toll was inevitable in densely urban terrain. —Andrew Exum, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2025

The ongoing evolution of this field necessitates continuous research and development to ensure robust security measures that can effectively safeguard data. —Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 26 Jan. 2025

Subsequent reports confirmed the threats remain serious and credible, necessitating continued protection. —Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 25 Jan. 2025

The wedding was out of town, which necessitated a motel stay, meals and gas, in addition to a generous cash gift. —Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 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