necessity is the mother of invention

necessity is the mother of invention

proverb Creative solutions are often produced in response to difficulties or hardships that need to be overcome. A: "I needed to drain the washing machine to try and unblock it, so I used an old bike tube to funnel the water out the back door." B: "Wow, necessity is the mother of invention, huh?"

See also: mother, necessity, of

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Prov. When people really need to do something, they will figure out a way to do it. When the fan belt on Linda's car broke in the middle of the desert, Linda used her stockings as a replacement. Necessity is the mother of invention.

See also: mother, necessity, of

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

necessity is the mother of invention

Inventiveness and ingenuity are stimulated by difficulty. For example, The first prisoner to tie together bedsheets to escape knew that necessity was the mother of invention . This proverb first appeared in English in 1519 in slightly different form, "Need taught him wit," and exists in many other languages as well.

See also: mother, necessity, of

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

neˌcessity is the ˌmother of inˈvention

(saying) a very difficult new problem forces people to think of, design, produce, etc. a solution to it: ‘So how did you manage to open the bottle?’ ‘I used a bit of wire and a stick. Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes.’

See also: mother, necessity, of

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

necessity is the mother of invention

Urgent need prompts one to devise a new solution. Words to this effect date from the time of the ancient Greeks, but the precise phrase first occurs in William Wycherley’s play Love in a Wood (1672, 3.3): “Necessity, mother of invention!” It is a proverb in Italian, French, German, and probably numerous other languages.

See also: mother, necessity, of

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer