needful
Americanadjective
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necessary; needed; required
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archaic needy; poverty-stricken
noun
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informal money or funds
do you have the needful?
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to perform a necessary task
Other Word Forms
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
However when pressed on exactly what this role would be, he said it would be to "evangelise and exhort everyone that she represents to do the needful" to restrict global warming.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2021
Thicken the Baby Yoda gravy, if needful, with rice flour or with flour and Bantha butter, and serve plenty of Kowakian monkey-lizard forcemeat balls round the head.
From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2019
She had done what was needful for him as a baby, but she had business of her own and once he could look after himself at all she paid no more heed to him.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
