Meanings
- uncountableThe state or condition of impoverishment; material need, especially of an urgent nature.
If necessitousness implies a pressing need for the money and a lack of ability to bargain over rates, then it would seem the modern consumer is not in a very different position from his pre-war cousin.
1973, Jacob Ziegel, “Recent Developments in Canadian Consumer Credit Law”, in The Modern Law Review, volume 36, number 5, pages 495–61 more example
[…] give thou also before asking; that is, where want is silently clamorous, and men’s necessities not their tongues do loudly call for thy mercies. For though sometimes necessitousness be dumb, or misery speak not out, yet true charity is sagacious, and will find out hints for beneficence.
1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, Part I, p. 13 - rareuncountableThe state or condition of being necessary or essential; necessity.
Some of the forces incline the land toward agricultural use, others incline it toward residential use. . . . There is no economic necessitousness that would dictate one or the other use.
1946, Walter Firey, “Ecological Considerations in Planning for Rurban Fringes”, in American Sociological Review, volume 11, number 4, page 413
Origin
Cite this entry
necessitousness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/necessitousness
“necessitousness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/necessitousness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “necessitousness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/necessitousness.
Source: necessitousness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.