Definition

constraint (literally or figuratively); by implication, distress

Etymology

from G303 (ἀνά) and the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη);

Where the KJV renders it

• distress
• must needs
• (of) necessity(-sary)
• needeth
• needful

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.