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definitions

need

[need]
See more synonyms for need on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation: There is no need for you to go there.
  2. a lack of something wanted or deemed necessary: to fulfill the needs of the assignment.
  3. urgent want, as of something requisite: He has no need of your charity.
  4. necessity arising from the circumstances of a situation or case: There is no need to worry.
  5. a situation or time of difficulty; exigency: to help a friend in need; to be a friend in need.
  6. a condition marked by the lack of something requisite: the need for leadership.
  7. destitution; extreme poverty: The family's need is acute.
verb (used with object)
  1. to have need of; require: to need money.
verb (used without object)
  1. 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.
  2. to be in need or want.
  3. to be necessary: There needs no apology.
Idioms
  1. if need be, should the necessity arise: If need be, I can type the letters myself.

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

Synonyms for need

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com
3. requirement. 5. emergency. 7. neediness, indigence, penury, privation. 8. want, lack.

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.

Antonyms for need

7. wealth.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for needing

desire, require, lack, demand, claim, miss, hunger, wish, covet, necessitate, thirst, hanker, lust, crave, long, pine, exact, yearn

Examples from the Web for needing

Contemporary Examples of needing

Historical Examples of needing

  • Yet she wondered if the instinct were not dormant, needing but the suggestion.

  • And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them.

    A Tale of Two Cities

    Charles Dickens

  • But what will you do when I am gone, and you yourself will be needing help?

    Murder Point

    Coningsby Dawson

  • Here's Peter needing a box for his goods—and a pretty big one, too.

    The House Under the Sea

    Sir Max Pemberton

  • "You will be needing a holiday, then," said she, with cool insolence.

    St. Martin's Summer

    Rafael Sabatini

British Dictionary definitions for needing

need

verb
  1. (tr) to be in want ofto need money
  2. (tr) to require or be required of necessity (to be or do something); be obligedto need to do more work
  3. (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?
  4. (intr) archaic to be essential or necessary tothere needs no reason for this
noun
  1. the fact or an instance of feeling the lack of somethinghe has need of a new coat
  2. a requirementthe need for vengeance
  3. necessity or obligation resulting from some situationno need to be frightened
  4. distress or extremitya friend in need
  5. extreme poverty or destitution; penury
See also needs

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 needing

need

n.

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

v.

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with needing

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).
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.