need
Americannoun
-
needs
plural
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- requirement
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- emergency
-
a condition marked by the lack of something requisite.
the need for leadership.
-
destitution; extreme poverty.
The family's need is acute.
- Antonyms:
- wealth
verb (used with object)
-
needs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
needed,
past participle, past
-
needing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
needs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
needed,
past participle, past
-
needing
present participle
-
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, notneeds ).
He need not go.
-
to be in need or want.
-
to be necessary.
There needs no apology.
idioms
verb
-
(tr) to be in want of
to need money
-
(tr) to require or be required of necessity (to be or do something); be obliged
to 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 nouns
need he go?
-
archaic (intr) to be essential or necessary to
there needs no reason for this
noun
-
the fact or an instance of feeling the lack of something
he has need of a new coat
-
a requirement
the need for vengeance
-
necessity or obligation resulting from some situation
no need to be frightened
-
distress or extremity
a friend in need
-
extreme poverty or destitution; penury
Usage
What are other ways to say need? To need something is to have need of it. How does need compare to synonyms want, lack, and require? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
needsimple
-
needssimple
-
have neededperfect
-
has neededperfect
-
am needingprogressive
-
are needingprogressive
-
is needingprogressive
-
have been needingperfect progressive
-
has been needingperfect progressive
Past
-
neededsimple
-
had neededperfect
-
was needingprogressive
-
were needingprogressive
-
had been needingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of need
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun nede, Old English nēd ( West Saxon nīed ), cognate with German Not, Old Norse nauth, Gothic nauths
Explanation
A need is something essential: people need food, water, and shelter. When you lack them, you're in need. Besides physical needs like sleep, people have lots of psychological needs: like for love and friendship. To pass an exam, you need to study. To lose weight, you need to exercise more and eat less. Drug addicts feel a physical need for their drug — so do smokers. Often, we feel we need things that we actually just want: like a new video game or car. When someone is trying hard to get something, they might say "I need it!"
Vocabulary lists containing need
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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Lyrics from "Umbrella" by Rihanna
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"Inventing to Solve a Problem"
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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.
See Examples For:
Although taxes and regulatory changes get the lowest weighting in the index, Conti said Americans need to plan more for potential tax expenses in retirement.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
Plus, here’s what you need to know about Anthropic’s planned IPO.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The researchers also stress the need to strengthen local scientific capacity and make sure that useful evidence reaches policymakers who can turn it into conservation decisions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
"We all need to do more to tackle antisemitism," Miliband said, "But I believe we can do that and stand up for British values."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
My heart cracks open as I say out loud what Grandma was hesitant to say: “And to get peace, they need a movement…”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
They listed possible rate hikes, geopolitical uncertainty, the upcoming midterm elections and increasing liquidity needs from initial-public offerings and hyperscaler funding as concerns from investors.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
How long can Campari keep up the velvet-rope act before it needs to open the floodgates to hit sales targets?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Bangladesh also illustrates how urgently better information needs to be converted into conservation action.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
"The path through motorsport is a long one and we will give him the time, support and resources he needs to maximise his potential."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
But Dad said, “After you boys see to the stock, take the morning off and walk down to the schoolhouse with your sister. Find out what needs to be done down there.”
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Different types of sensors—radar, radio frequency, optical and acoustic detection—as well as electronic jamming measures and intercept systems are needed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
"By bringing together local knowledge, citizen science, social media, scientific monitoring and regional expertise, we can build a much clearer picture of where species occur and where conservation effort is most urgently needed."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
And in September, OpenAI's chief scientist Jakub Pachocki called for "extreme caution" over AI's progress, warning more intervention may be needed to ensure "humans remain in control of the future".
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
There’s a practical element that is we needed the characters’ ages to catch up to our own ages a little bit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
She prides herself on having any and everything that might be needed throughout the day.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
The more interesting — and, frankly, fortunate and unusual — question is whether you can spend your retirement years without ever needing to dip deeply into that honeypot at all.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
A large share of that cellular waste consists of neutrophils, with roughly 100 billion of them needing to be cleared every day.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
The deal also helped a nascent cloud provider, Lambda, secure a lucrative contract with Anthropic without needing to procure the data-center space on its own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Videos from recent concerts have shown him occasionally needing to sit to finish songs like “Dancing on the Ceiling.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
Now I was doing the moves smoothly, one after the other, without hesitating or needing to catch my breath.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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.
