necessity Copy link Outline I. Unavoidableness; impossibility of being otherwise1. nĕcessĭtas2. nĕcessĭtūdo (less freq. in this sense than preced.3. expr. by nĕcessĕ, nĕcessāriumII. Want, pressing circumstance1. ĕgestas2. nĕcessĭtas3. nĕcessĭtūdoIII. An indispensable thingIV. In special sense, the n.s of nature • necessity: I. Unavoidableness; impossibility of being otherwise: 1. nĕcessĭtas: fatal n. (in phil. sense), fatalis n., Cic. N. D. 1, 20, 55 (cf. id. Fat. pass.): to yield to n., n. parere, id. Fam. 4, 9: to impose on any one the n. of doing something, n. alicui afferre aliquid faciendi, id. Ph. 10, 1, 2; n. imponere, Liv. 21, 44; n. injungere, Auct. B. Alex. 44: laid under a n., necessitate adductus, Caes. B. G. 6, 12; vi ac n. coactus, Cic. Quint. 16, 51; n. adstrictus, id. N. D. 1, 7, extr. 2. nĕcessĭtūdo (less freq. in this sense than preced.: in Cic. only in the work, de Inv.): to impose a n. on any one, n. alicui imponere, Sall. Cat. 33, extr.; facere, Tac. A. 3, 64: cf. Cic. Inv. 2, 57, sqq. 3. expr. by nĕcessĕ, nĕcessārium: it is a n. for a mortal body to die at some time, corpus mortale aliquo tempore perire n. est, Cic. Inv. 2, 57, 170: v. necessary. Phr.: to do a thing from n., coactum [necessitate] aliquid facere: v. compulsion. II. Want, pressing circumstance: 1. ĕgestas: v. want, destitution. Prov.: n. the mother of invention, ingeniosa rerum egestas, Claud. (R. and A.). 2. nĕcessĭtas: on account of one's own n.s (pressing circumstances), suarum n. causa, Caes. B. G. 7, 89: Liv. 3. nĕcessĭtūdo: Sall.: v. need. III. An indispensable thing: *quod carere non possis; res omnino necessaria: v. necessary. IV. In special sense, the n.s of nature: desideria obscaena; requisita naturae: v. nature (VII.).