different between necessity vs wish

English

Etymology

From Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessit?s (“unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency, necessity”), from necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”); see necessary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n??s?s?ti/

Noun

necessity (countable and uncountable, plural necessities)

2. The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite.
3. The condition of being needy; desperate need; lack.
   • 1863, Richard Sibbes, The Successful Seeker, in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, D.D., Volume VI, James Nichol, page 125,

     For it is in vain for a man to think to seek God in his necessity and exigence, if he seek not God in his ordinances, and do not joy in them.

4. Something necessary; a requisite; something indispensable.
   • 20th century, Tenzin Gyatso (attributed)

     Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

5. Something which makes an act or an event unavoidable; an irresistible force; overruling power.
   • 1804, Wordsworth, The Small Celandine

     I stopped, and said with inly muttered voice,

     'It doth not love the shower, nor seek the cold:

     This neither is its courage nor its choice,

     But its necessity in being old.

6. The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
7. (law) Greater utilitarian good; used in justification of a criminal act.

8. (law, in the plural) Indispensable requirements (of life).

Synonyms

• (state of being necessary): inevitability, certainty

Antonyms

• (state of being necessary): impossibility, contingency
• (something indispensable): luxury

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• cysteines

English

Etymology

From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English w?s?an (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijan? (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wun-, *wenh?- (“to wish, love”).

Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Danish ønske (“to wish”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?sh, IPA^(key): /w??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: whish (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Noun

wish (plural wishes)

1. A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.
2. An expression of such a desire, often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power.
3. The thing desired or longed for.
   • 1901, W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw

     "I suppose all old soldiers are the same," said Mrs White. "The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you, father?" / "Might drop on his head from the sky," said the frivolous Herbert.

4. (Sussex) A water meadow.

Usage notes

• Collocates with make for the common expression make a wish. See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• precatory
• velleity

Verb

wish (third-person singular simple present wishes, present participle wishing, simple past and past participle wished)

1. (transitive) To desire; to want.
   • 1716, Jonathan Swift, Phyllis, or the Progress of Love

     Now John the butler must be sent
     To learn the road that Phyllis went:
     The groom was wished to saddle Crop;
     For John must neither light nor stop,
     But find her, wheresoe'er she fled,
     And bring her back alive or dead.
2. (transitive, now rare) To hope (+ object clause with may or in present subjunctive).
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 84:

     I wish he mean me well, that he takes so much pains!

   • 1808, Jane Austen, letter, 1 October:

     She hears that Miss Bigg is to be married in a fortnight. I wish it may be so.

3. (intransitive, followed by for) To hope (for a particular outcome).
   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures

     This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.

   • 1901, W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw

     Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."

4. (ditransitive) To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).
   • Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.

5. (intransitive, followed by to and an infinitive) To request or desire to do an activity.
6. (transitive) To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
   • 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist

     I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.

Usage notes

• In sense 4, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

Translations

References

• wish at OneLook Dictionary Search
• wish in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.