Table of Contents
Definition of Necessary Condition
(noun) Something that must happen for an effect to occur.
Examples of Necessary Condition
- Having ice cream is necessary to eat a bowl of ice cream.
- Oxygen is necessary for human life.
Necessary Condition Pronunciation
Syllabification: nec·es·sar·y con·di·tion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /nEs-uh-sair-ee kuhn-dIsh-uhn/
- British English – /nE-si-suh-ree kuhn-dIsh-uhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈnɛsəˌsɛri kənˈdɪʃən/
- British English – /ˈnɛsɪsəri kənˈdɪʃən/
Usage Notes
- Plural: necessary conditions
- Necessary condition is related to sufficient condition, which is a condition that, if present, guarantees an effect will occur.
- Necessary conditions are not always “sufficient“. For example, an individual with ice cream can eat a bowl of ice cream if they have a bowl, but you can still eat ice cream without a bowl. Additionally, to eat a bowl of soup, it is not necessary or sufficient to have ice cream. Finally, it is both necessary and sufficient to have both a bowl and ice cream to eat a bowl of ice cream.
- Also called necessary cause.
Related Video
Additional Information
- Qualitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “necessary” and “condition” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Necessary and Sufficient Conditions – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: stanford.edu
- Necessary and Sufficient Conditions – Jon Young, Fayetteville State University: uncfsu
- Necessary Conditions and Sufficient Conditions – Norman Swartz, Simon Fraser University: sfu.ca
- Understanding Causality: Necessary and Sufficient – Elizabeth Boskey, About Health: about.com
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Necessary Condition
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “necessary condition.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved December 14, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/necessary-condition/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
necessary condition. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/necessary-condition/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “necessary condition.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/necessary-condition/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“necessary condition.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/necessary-condition/>.