needed

[nee-did]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR needed ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

necessary, required, or wanted (usually used in combination): a much-needed vacation.

Nearby words

Origin of needed

First recorded in 1610–20; need + -ed²

need

[need]

noun

a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation: There is no need for you to go there.

a lack of something wanted or deemed necessary: to fulfill the needs of the assignment.

urgent want, as of something requisite: He has no need of your charity.

necessity arising from the circumstances of a situation or case: There is no need to worry.

a situation or time of difficulty; exigency: to help a friend in need; to be a friend in need.

a condition marked by the lack of something requisite: the need for leadership.

destitution; extreme poverty: The family's need is acute.

verb (used with object)

to have need of; require: to need money.

verb (used without object)

to be under an obligation (used as an auxiliary, typically in an interrogative or in a negative statement, and followed by infinitive, in certain cases without to; in the 3d person singular the form is need, not needs): He need not go.

to be in need or want.

to be necessary: There needs no apology.

Origin of need

before 900; (noun) Middle English nede, Old English nēd (WSaxon nīed), cognate with German Not, Old Norse nauth, Gothic nauths; (v.) Middle English neden, Old English nēodian, derivative of the noun

SYNONYMS FOR need

3. requirement. 5. emergency. 7. neediness, indigence, penury, privation. 8. want, lack.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR need ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR need

7. wealth.

SEE MORE ANTONYMS FOR need ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsneed·er, nounun·need·ed, adjectivewell-need·ed, adjective

Synonym study

2, 3. See lack. 4. Need, necessity imply a want, a lack, or a demand, which must be filled. Need, a word of Old English origin, has connotations that make it strong in emotional appeal: the need to be appreciated. Necessity, a word of Latin origin, is more formal and impersonal or objective; though much stronger than need in expressing urgency or imperative demand, it is less effective in appealing to the emotions: Water is a necessity for living things. 7. See poverty.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for needed

This was nine fewer than what he needed just two years ago when 426 members of the House voted.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Perhaps, as Dwight Garner wrote, Steinberg just needed an idea for a book.
Was ‘The Book of Mormon’ a Great American Novel?|Stefan Beck|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Residents of the neighborhoods where cops are needed the most are mixed on the impact of the apparent slowdown.
Ground Zero of the NYPD Slowdown|Batya Ungar-Sargon|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Just how many fake nodes would be needed in order to pull off a successful Sybil attack against Tor is not known.
The Attack on the Hidden Internet|Marc Rogers|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

We read Thomas Piketty because we needed to understand these failures to have any hope of grappling with them.
American Democracy Under Threat for 250 Years|Jedediah Purdy|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In order that sufficient instruction be furnished the Indians, five more religious are needed.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-1591|Emma Helen Blair
He was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume III (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland I|Francis W. Halsey
She spoke the truth; for the enterprise was not of such difficulty that I needed any one to help me.
The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete|Madame La Marquise De Montespan
A new supply, however, would be needed in order to carry us back to the earth.
Edison's Conquest of Mars|Garrett Putnam Serviss
It looked as though the towns would shrivel up, because of the tremendously high wages demanded by the men who were needed there.
Historic Adventures|Rupert S. Holland

British Dictionary definitions for needed

need

verb

(tr) to be in want ofto need money

(tr) to require or be required of necessity (to be or do something); be obligedto need to do more work

(takes an infinitive without to) used as an auxiliary in negative and interrogative sentences to express necessity or obligation, and does not add -s when used with he, she, it, and singular nounsneed he go?

(intr) archaic to be essential or necessary tothere needs no reason for this

noun

the fact or an instance of feeling the lack of somethinghe has need of a new coat

a requirementthe need for vengeance

necessity or obligation resulting from some situationno need to be frightened

distress or extremitya friend in need

extreme poverty or destitution; penury

Word Origin for need

Old English nēad, nied; related to Old Frisian nēd, Old Saxon nōd, Old High German nōt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for needed

need

Old English nied (West Saxon), ned (Mercian) "necessity, compulsion, duty; hardship, distress; errand, business," originally "violence, force," from Proto-Germanic *nauthis (cf. Old Saxon nod, Old Norse nauðr, Old Frisian ned, Middle Dutch, Dutch nood, Old High German not, German Not, Gothic nauþs "need"), probably cognate with Old Prussian nautin "need," and perhaps with Old Church Slavonic nazda, Russian nuzda, Polish nędza "misery, distress," from PIE *nau- "death, to be exhausted" (see narwhal).

The more common Old English word for "need, necessity, want" was ðearf, but they were connected via a notion of "trouble, pain," and the two formed a compound, niedðearf "need, necessity, compulsion, thing needed." Nied also might have been influenced by Old English neod "desire, longing," which often was spelled the same. Common in Old English compounds, e.g. niedfaru "compulsory journey," a euphemism for "death;" niedhæmed "rape," the second element being an Old English word meaning "sexual intercourse;" niedling "slave." Meaning "extreme poverty, destitution" is from c.1200.

need

Old English neodian "be necessary, be required (for some purpose); require, have need of," from the same root as need (n.). Meaning "to be under obligation (to do something)" is from late 14c. Related: Needed; needing. The adjectival phrase need-to-know is attested from 1952. Dismissive phrase who needs it?, popular from c.1960, is a translated Yiddishism.

Idioms and Phrases with needed

need

In addition to the idiom beginning with need

needle in a haystack
needless to say
need like a hole in the head

also see:

cry for (crying need for).

needed

adjective

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Origin of needed

need

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

Origin of need

Synonym study

Examples from the Web for needed

need

verb

noun

Word Origin for need

need

need

need