different between greatest vs necessary

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???e?t?st/
• Hyphenation: great?est
• Rhymes: -?st

Adjective

greatest

1. superlative form of great: most great
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii^[1]:

     Caliban: […] I never saw a woman / But only Sycorax, my dam, and she; / But she as far surpasseth Sycorax / As great'st does least.

Related terms

• great
• greater

English

Etymology

From Middle English necessarye, from Old French necessaire, from Latin necess?rius (“unavoidable, inevitable, required”), variant of necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”), probably from ne or non cessum, from the perfect passive participle of c?d? (“yield; avoid, withdraw”); see cede.

Older use as a noun in reference to an outhouse or lavatory under the influence of English and Latin necess?rium, a medieval term for the place for monks' "unavoidable" business, usually located behind or attached to monastic dormitories.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?s??s??i/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?s?s??/

• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /?n?s??i/

Adjective

necessary (comparative necessarier or more necessary, superlative necessariest or most necessary)

1. Required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:requisite

   Antonym: unnecessary

   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare & al., The Life of Tymon of Athens, Act III, Scene vi, ll. 1258-60:

     1.Sen. ...The faults Bloody:
     'Tis necessary he should dye:
     Nothing imboldens sinne so much, as Mercy.

2. Unavoidable, inevitable.

   Synonyms: inevitable, natural

   Antonyms: evitable, incidental, impossible

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar, Act II, Scene ii, ll. 1020-25:

     Cæs. Cowards dye many times before their deaths,
     The valiant neuer taste of death but once:
     Of all the Wonders that I yet haue heard,
     It seemes to me most strange that men should feare,
     Seeing that death, a necessary end
     Will come, when it will come.

3. (obsolete) Determined, involuntary: acting from compulsion rather than free will.
   • 1871, Richard Holt Hutton, Essays, Vol. I, p. 53:

     But that a necessary being should give birth to a being with any amount, however limited, of moral freedom, is infinitely less conceivable than that parents of the insect or fish type should give birth to a perfect mammal.

Derived terms

• necessarily
• necessary condition

Related terms

Translations

Noun

necessary (plural necessaries)

1. (Britain, archaic euphemistic, usually with the definite article) A place to do the "necessary" business of urination and defecation: an outhouse or lavatory.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:bathroom

Related terms

• necessary house; necessary place, necessary stool, necessary vault (obsolete)

References

• necessary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• necessary in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.