| Library / English Dictionary |
OF NECESSITY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In such a manner as could not be otherwise
Example:
we must needs by objective
Synonyms:
inevitably; necessarily; needs; of necessity
Classified under:
Context examples:
Though I could almost have consigned her to the mercies of the wind on the topmost pinnacle of the Cathedral, without remorse, I made a virtue of necessity, and gave her a friendly salutation.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Hence it follows of necessity, that vast numbers of our people are compelled to seek their livelihood by begging, robbing, stealing, cheating, pimping, flattering, suborning, forswearing, forging, gaming, lying, fawning, hectoring, voting, scribbling, star-gazing, poisoning, whoring, canting, libelling, freethinking, and the like occupations: every one of which terms I was at much pains to make him understand.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
It is unfortunate that they cannot stay longer—but it seems a case of necessity.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
