needs must when the devil drives
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Necessity can force one to do something unpleasant or undesirable
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Sự cần thiết có thể buộc người ta làm điều gì đó khó chịu hoặc không mong muốn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: the devil forcing someone to act
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “needs must when the devil drives” mean?
Necessity can force one to do something unpleasant or undesirable Literally: the devil forcing someone to act
Is “needs must when the devil drives” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.