necessary evilnoun [ C ]
uk/ˌnes.ə.ser.i ˈiː.vəl/us/ˌnes.ə.ser.i ˈiː.vəl/something unpleasant that must be accepted in order to achieve a particular result:
I think he regards work as a necessary evil.
Most Americans accept taxes as a necessary evil.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Essential or necessary
- a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do idiom
- basically
- basis
- be a question of doing sth idiom
- business-critical
- dependence
- if/when push comes to shove idiom
- imply
- incumbent
- indispensable
- inherent
- integral
- needed
- needful
- occasion
- on a need-to-know basis idiom
- owe
- owe it to yourself idiom
- underlying
- warrant
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