necessitous

[ nuh-ses-i-tuhs ]

adjective

1. destitute or impoverished; needy; indigent:

   to aid a necessitous young mother.

2. being essential or unavoidable:

   a necessitous discharge of responsibilities.

3. requiring immediate attention or action; urgent:

   the necessitous demands of the oil shortage.

necessitous

/ nɪˈsɛsɪtəs /

adjective

1. very needy; destitute; poverty-stricken

Derived Forms

• neˈcessitously, adverb

Other Words From

• ne·cessi·tous·ly adverb
• ne·cessi·tous·ness noun
• nonne·cessi·tous adjective
• nonne·cessi·tous·ly adverb
• nonne·cessi·tous·ness noun
• unne·cessi·tous adjective
• unne·cessi·tous·ly adverb
• unne·cessi·tous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of necessitous¹

First recorded in 1605–15; necessit(y) + -ous

Example Sentences

Back in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt, in his inaugural address, pointed out that "a necessitous man is not a free man."

From Salon

As memories of subsistence struggles recede, people who are no longer necessitous are indeed free — free to use politics for unpleasant self-expression.

From Washington Post

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, indulging in progressive utopianism, insisted that “necessitous men are not free.”

From Washington Post

A few years later, Roosevelt put it this way in his 1944 State of the Union address: "We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. 'Necessitous men are not free men.' People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made."

From Salon

Largely because of the horrors of the Republican Great Depression, Americans realized that, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his 1944 State of the Union address, "Necessitous men are not free men."

From Salon