Showing results for "needs"

• plural of need.
• present tense form of need (3rd person singular).

needs

American  

[needz] / nidz /

adverb

1. of necessity; necessarily (usually preceded or followed bymust ).

   It must needs be so.

   It needs must be.

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needs British  

/ niːdz /

adverb

1. (preceded or foll by must) of necessity

   we must needs go

   we will go, if needs must

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plural noun

1. what is required; necessities

   the needs of the third world

   his needs are modest

Etymology

Origin of needs

First recorded before 1000; Middle English nedis, Old English nēdes, originally genitive of nēd need; see -s ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

needs

The patriarch played a crucial role in the development of his daughter Selena’s career, establishing his family-led band Selena y Los Dinos in the 1980s as a way to meet financial needs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Burnham's former economic adviser, Lord O'Neill, told me yesterday that the PM's 10-year plan, expected in November, needs to set out how he will tackle "excessive spending".

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

The administration’s stance, the spokesman said, would “undermine the sustainability of the human-created content that a healthy society depends on, and which AI needs to function.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

"Every single country needs to build infrastructure so that you can support your own local economy," he said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

“It doesn’t matter what I believe. It doesn’t matter what you’re hiding. Neither one of us needs to fix the other. Maybe we are too broken.”

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse