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Necessary vs. Nicety — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Necessary and Nicety

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Definitions

Necessary

Needed or required
A contract complete with the necessary signatures.
Conditions necessary to life.

Nicety

The quality of showing or requiring careful, precise treatment
The nicety of a diplomatic exchange.

Necessary

Unavoidably determined by prior conditions or circumstances; inevitable
The necessary results of overindulgence.

Nicety

Delicacy of character or feeling; fastidiousness; scrupulousness.

Necessary

Logically inevitable
A necessary conclusion.

Nicety

A fine point, small detail, or subtle distinction
The niceties of etiquette.
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Necessary

Required by obligation, compulsion, or convention
Made the necessary apologies.

Nicety

An elegant or refined feature; an amenity
The niceties of civilized life.

Necessary

Something indispensable.

Nicety

A compliment or pleasantry, especially when intended to gloss over a potential disagreement or conflict
“Diplomatic niceties aside, the news reports about [the Defense Secretary's] departure make it pretty clear what happened” (John Cassidy).

Necessary

Required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.
Although I wished to think that all was false, it was yet necessary that I, who thus thought, must in some sense exist.
It is absolutely necessary that you call and confirm your appointment.

Nicety

A small detail or distinction.
We met the new captain while we were taking enemy fire and were unable to observe the niceties of formal introductions.
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Necessary

Unavoidable, inevitable.
If it is absolutely necessary to use public computers, you should plan ahead and forward your e-mail to a temporary, disposable account.

Nicety

Subtlety or precision of use; exactness; preciseness.
A rocket-propelled grenade doesn't have the nicety of a sniper round, but you must admit its effectiveness.

Necessary

(obsolete) Determined, involuntary: acting from compulsion rather than free will.

Nicety

Delicacy of character or feeling usually from excessive refinement; fastidiousness

Necessary

A place to do the "necessary" business of urination and defecation: an outhouse or lavatory.

Nicety

(obsolete) That which is delicate to the taste.

Necessary

(obsolete) Necessity.

Nicety

The quality or state of being nice (in any of the senses of that word.).
The miller smiled of her nicety.

Necessary

Such as must be; impossible to be otherwise; not to be avoided; inevitable.
Death, a necessary end,Will come when it will come.

Nicety

Delicacy or exactness of perception; minuteness of observation or of discrimination; precision.

Necessary

Impossible to be otherwise, or to be dispensed with, without preventing the attainment of a desired result; indispensable; requisite; essential.
A certain kind of temper is necessary to the pleasure and quiet of our minds.

Nicety

A delicate expression, act, mode of treatment, distinction, or the like; a minute distinction.
The fineness and niceties of words.

Necessary

Acting from necessity or compulsion; involuntary; - opposed to free; as, whether man is a necessary or a free agent is a question much discussed.

Nicety

Conformity with some esthetic standard of correctness or propriety;
It was performed with justness and beauty

Necessary

A thing that is necessary or indispensable to some purpose; something that one can not do without; a requisite; an essential; - used chiefly in the plural; as, the necessaries of life.

Nicety

A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude;
Without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor
Don't argue about shades of meaning

Necessary

A privy; a water-closet.

Necessary

Such things, in respect to infants, lunatics, and married women, as are requisite for support suitable to station.

Necessary

Anything indispensable;
Food and shelter are necessities of life
The essentials of the good life
Allow farmers to buy their requirements under favorable conditions
A place where the requisites of water fuel and fodder can be obtained

Necessary

Absolutely essential

Necessary

Unavoidably determined by prior circumstances;
The necessary consequences of one's actions

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