necessary evil

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play
• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play

No etymology was provided for this word.

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: необходимо зло (neobhodimo zlo) — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Chinese Mandarin: 必要之惡 /必要之恶 — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Czech: nutné zlo — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Danish: nødvendigt onde — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Dutch: noodzakelijk kwaad — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Finnish: välttämätön paha — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• French: mal nécessaire — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• French: mal pour un bien — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• German: notwendiges Übel — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Greek: αναγκαίο κακό (anagkaío kakó) — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Japanese: 必要悪 (hitsuyōaku) — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Korean: 필요악 (piryoak) — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Norwegian Bokmål: nødvendig onde — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Polish: zło konieczne — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Portuguese: mal necessário — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Russian: необходимое зло (neobxodimoje zlo) — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted
• Spanish: mal necesario — unfavorable thing that must be done or accepted