needful
Americanadjective
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necessary; needed; required
-
archaic needy; poverty-stricken
noun
-
informal money or funds
do you have the needful?
-
to perform a necessary task
Other Word Forms
- needfully adverb
- needfulness noun
- unneedful adjective
- unneedfully adverb
Etymology
Origin of needful
Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; see origin at need, -ful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The power to change the Kennedy Center marquee resides with Congress, which has authority to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
Many will be young men and women who will risk prison, or worse, to deliver the facts to a needful public — even if some of the public don't want to hear it.
From Salon • Apr. 14, 2022
He is doing the needful to train the boy for recruitment into his Regiment.
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2022
When I slather it on—my lips are even more needful in West Texas—I usually hold out the tube, and Matt usually declines, but that’s not the part that matters.
From Slate • Mar. 22, 2021
After he had done what was needful, he placed his eye carefully in the pool.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
