Necessitated

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have resulted in a circumstance that demands a certain action or outcome To have led to a situation where something is essential or obligatory To have created a necessity for a specific response or measure to be taken
2. To have given rise to a need for certain actions or solutions To have established a requirement that compels a particular decision or course of action To have caused something to be inevitable or crucial in a situation
3. Brought about a condition that makes a specific action or response unavoidable

Etymology: "Necessitated" is the past tense of "necessitate," a verb built from "necessity" plus the suffix "-ate," which English uses to form verbs from nouns and adjectives. The noun "necessity" comes via Old French "necessite" from Latin "necessitas," meaning "inevitability" or "compulsion," itself from "necessus," the root of "necesse," "unavoidable." English has used "necessitate" since the 1600s, and its earliest sense was simply "to make necessary," with the idea of compulsion built in. The Latin root combines "ne-," meaning "not," with "cedere," meaning "to yield" or "to give way." So something necessary is something that cannot yield or be avoided, a reading that matches the modern sense of an outcome that leaves no real alternative.

Synonyms: required, forced, compelled

Antonyms: prevented, avoided