Necessity refers to the quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite. It commonly describes the condition of being needy; desperate need; lack, something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable, and something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to the negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism and greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Necessity as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Necessity therefore works well as a quotation category because it can hold direct statements about the subject, figurative uses that borrow its meaning, and broader reflections that stay anchored to the same central idea. Necessity is not limited to a single rigid definition in ordinary language, and that wider range is part of what makes the category useful for grouping related material without losing the term's main sense.
