require
Americanverb (used with object)
-
requires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
required,
past participle, past
-
requiring
present participle
-
to have need of; need.
He requires medical care.
-
to call on authoritatively; order or enjoin to do something.
to require an agent to account for money spent.
-
to ask for authoritatively or imperatively; demand.
- Antonyms:
- forgo
-
to impose need or occasion for; make necessary or indispensable.
The work required infinite patience.
-
to call for or exact as obligatory; ordain.
The law requires annual income-tax returns.
-
to place under an obligation or necessity.
The situation requires me to take immediate action.
- Synonyms:
- necessitate, obligate
-
Chiefly British. to desire; wish to have.
Will you require tea at four o'clock?
verb (used without object)
-
requires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
required,
past participle, past
-
requiring
present participle
verb
-
to have need of; depend upon; want
-
to impose as a necessity; make necessary
this work requires precision
-
(also intr) to make formal request (for); insist upon or demand, esp as an obligation
-
to call upon or oblige (a person) authoritatively; order or command
to require someone to account for his actions
Usage
What are other ways to say require? To require something is to have a need for it or to ask for it authoritatively. How does require compare to synonyms want, need, and lack? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
See demand.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
requirernoun
-
prerequireverb (used with object)
-
nonrequirableadjective
-
quasi-requiredadjective
-
requirableadjective
-
unrequiredadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
requiresimple
-
requiressimple
-
have requiredperfect
-
has requiredperfect
-
am requiringprogressive
-
are requiringprogressive
-
is requiringprogressive
-
have been requiringperfect progressive
-
has been requiringperfect progressive
Past
-
requiredsimple
-
had requiredperfect
-
was requiringprogressive
-
were requiringprogressive
-
had been requiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of require
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English requiren, from Latin requīrere, equivalent to re- re- ( def. ) + -quīrere, combining form of quaerere “to seek, search for”; cf. quest ( def. )
Explanation
Require means to need. You require food, water, and shelter to live, but do you really require that new pair of high-fashion shoes? The verb require comes from Latin root words re-, meaning "repeatedly," and quaerere, meaning "to ask." The word lost the sense of asking and came to mean needing, demanding, or insisting upon something. The law requires that you attend school until you're sixteen; your parents probably require you to finish high school. If you're a waiter in a fancy restaurant and the food has been served, you might ask if your customers require anything else.
Vocabulary lists containing require
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit 1, Words 81-90
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Quartering Act (1765)
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The governor also signed legislation to require more transparency from social media influencers who are paid by political campaigns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
They added, “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive.”
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
“That model would require severe liability protection, and there’s only one institution that can do that: the U.S. government,” Karp says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
At a time when Americans’ grasp of personal-finance concepts is on the decline and many students don’t receive training in financial literacy in school, providing support “doesn’t require writing a check,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Logically, he knew the two events weren’t related, but worrying didn’t require logic.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
His goo can become tacos or hot dogs or, presumably, whatever else the institutional contract requires.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
AI simply requires a lot more of them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Proposition 44 requires that community clinics spend 90% of revenue on patient services, which Regan has said ensures that money is aligned with the mission of the health centers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Although the method is effective, finding genuine new craters requires extensive manual review.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
The program’s success requires police to stop “staggering” numbers of people in shotgun fashion.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
In a pulsating opening 25 minutes, England were twice required to come from behind, with tries from Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Hannah Botterman cancelling out scores by Lizzie Gibson and DaLeaka Menin for Canada.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Of course, this strategy required rapid growth or the whole machine would fall apart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
In 2025, 44% of homes for sale in the U.S. required owners to pay HOA fees, up from 34% in 2019, Realtor.com found.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Because the spacecraft was lighter, it required less fuel for its mid-course correction.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
But now came the more difficult part of her journey, for to get back to England required passage on a ship.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Abbott has tried to ameliorate these concerns by requiring all new data centers to be audited by the state, a step that policy experts and Democrats have criticized as insufficient.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
He helped save a cat that got stuck inside the wall of a garage, requiring firefighters to cut holes in the wall to reach in and grab it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan are some of the organisations that brought in policies requiring head office staff to be in every day after the pandemic.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
The law also expressly protects the parental rights of the intended parents by requiring the surrogate to surrender the child to them immediately upon birth.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
It was a twenty-minute walk to the Christmas tree stand, requiring the Vanderbeekers to cross a bridge that connected Harlem to the Bronx.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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.
