Necessity vs Must - What's the difference?
necessity | must |
The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= The condition of being needy or necessitous; pressing need; indigence; want.
That which is necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
*
That which makes an act or an event unavoidable; irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical or moral; fate; fatality.
* 1804 , Wordsworth,
The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.
(legal) Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act .
(legal, in the plural) Indispensable requirements (of life).
to do with certainty; (indicates that the speaker is certain that the subject will have executed the predicate)
The property of being stale or musty
Something that exhibits the property of being stale or musty
Fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented, usually grapes
* Longfellow
A time during which male elephants exhibit increased levels of sexual activity and aggressiveness (also musth)
* 1936 , George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant'' essay in magazine ''New Writing
As nouns the difference between necessity and must
is that necessity is the quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite while must is something that is mandatory or required or must can be the property of being stale or musty or must can be a time during which male elephants exhibit increased levels of sexual activity and aggressiveness (also musth) .As a verb must is
to do with certainty; (indicates that the speaker is certain that the subject will have executed the predicate) or must can be to make musty.necessity
Noun
(necessities)Our banks are out of control, passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.}}
- Love and compassion are necessities , not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
- I stopped, and said with inly muttered voice,
- 'It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold:
- This neither is its courage nor its choice,
- But its necessity in being old.
Synonyms
* (state of being necessary) inevitability, certaintyAntonyms
* (state of being necessary) impossibility, contingency * (something indispensable) luxuryDerived terms
* make a virtue of necessityExternal links
* *Anagrams
*must
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at .Verb
(head)- If it has rained all day, it must be very wet outside.
- You picked one of two, and it wasn't the first: it must have been the second.
- The children must be asleep by now.
- You must arrive in class on time. — the requirement is an imperative
- This door handle must be rotated fully. — the requirement is a directive
- Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Bible, Acts 9:6)
Quotations
* 1936 , , More Poems , IX, lines 3-6 *: Forth I wander, forth I must , *: And drink of life again. *: Forth I must by hedgerow bowers *: To look at the leaves uncurled * 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit *: We must away ere break of day *: To seek the pale enchanted gold. * 1968 Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist *: Whereupon while one patched or napped, the other must stand guard against inquisitive two- and three-headed dragons and even an occasional monocephalic.Usage notes
* (sense) Compare with weaker auxiliary verb (should), indicating a strong probability of the predicate's execution. * (sense) Compare with weaker auxiliary verb (should), indicating mere intent for the predicate's execution; and stronger auxiliary verb (will), indicating that the negative consequence will be unusually severe. * The past tense of "must" is also "must"; however, this usage is almost always literary (see Fritz Leiber quotation above). The past sense is usually conveyed by (had to). It is possible to use (be bound to) for the past also. For this reason, (have to) and (be bound to) are also used as alternatives to (must) in the present and future. * The principal verb, if easily supplied, may be omitted. In modern usage this is mainly literary (see Housman and Tolkien quotations above). * (term) is unusual in its negation. (term) still expresses a definite certainty or requirement, with the predicate negated. (term), on the other hand, is negated in the usual manner. Compare: :: You must not' read that book. (''It '''is''' necessary that you '''not read that book. ) :: You need not' read that book. (''It '''is not necessary that you read that book. ) * The second person singular no longer adds "-est" (as it did in Old English).See also
*Synonyms
* imperativeAntonyms
* no-noEtymology 2
(etyl) must, most, from (etyl) mustumNoun
(en noun)- No fermenting must fills the deep vats.
External links
* (wikipedia "must")Etymology 3
(etyl) .Noun
- It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must’.
