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:
It also asked the Justice Department to prevent QR-code-based tabulation in Georgia and require Georgia to end its use of the codes in six months.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
Following the latest request for information, the IDF said: "Complex incidents may require considerable time to collect, cross-check, and verify the relevant factual information."
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Long-range drones, which don’t require Starlink connections, attacked the Ryazan oil refinery, located southeast of Moscow, sparking a fire, Russian officials said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
For now, the research offers an intriguing possibility: Improving liver health may not always require changing what is on your plate.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
“So you are telling me, Duane, that Twitch did not actually require emergency grooming?”
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
That’s one reason federal law requires most providers to make healthcare communication meaningfully available in the language patients understand, via a human interpreter for spoken communication and a translator’s review for written information.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Establishing responsibility is challenging because it requires authorities to share maps pinpointing fire hotspots, with overlapping land claims further complicating matters.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Harabedian also has authored legislation that requires services to provide mortgage relief to January 2025 fire victims whose homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Federal law requires the FCC to “act on every application it receives, but it does not obligate the Commission to act within a particular timeframe.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The question/answer technique is slightly more difficult than echoing in that echoing merely imitates what the leader has done, and answering requires the creation of a different rhythm.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
"Previously, transporting heavy cargo such as industrial machinery, raw materials, construction materials and energy-related supplies required extreme caution because of safety concerns surrounding the ageing bridge," Lim told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
“The resources and money required to train foundation models makes them even more valuable intellectual property,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
It also took reservations for regular Roadsters, each of which had a starting price of $200,000 and required a $50,000 deposit.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Frankly, that might be what is required of our think tank executives in 2026, in an era of mass disinformation and flatlining public trust.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
The defeated countries had been required to disarm.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Last month, a review by the Northern Ireland Assembly into Donaldson's conduct during his time at Stormont found "no relevant information" requiring further investigation.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Depreciation expense reduces the taxable portion of rental income without requiring a check.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
One theme that permeates all AI-generated regulatory proposals is that AI is unique, requiring a new regulatory scheme.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
US regulators have published a consent order requiring Bank of America to work with a third party to identify and report suspicious transactions that went undetected.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Then a prisoner stumbled, causing a tree stump just coming out of the ground to fall back in place, requiring it to be pulled out again.
From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
