require

[ ri-kwahyuhr ]

See synonyms for: require required requires requiring on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),re·quired, re·quir·ing.

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.
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.
Chiefly British. to desire; wish to have: Will you require tea at four o'clock?

verb (used without object),re·quired, re·quir·ing.

to demand; impose obligation: to do as the law requires.

Origin of require

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English requiren, from Latin requīrere, equivalent to re- re- + -quīrere, combining form of quaerere “to seek, search for”; cf. quest

synonym study For require

3. See demand.

Other words for require

6	obligate, necessitate

See synonyms for require on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for require

forgo

See antonyms for require on Thesaurus.com

Other words from require

re·quir·a·ble, adjective
re·quir·er, noun
non·re·quir·a·ble, adjective
pre·re·quire, verb (used with object), pre·re·quired, pre·re·quir·ing.
qua·si-re·quired, adjective
un·re·quired, adjective

Words Nearby require

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use require in a sentence

Students from lower-risk areas were required to arrive one week before classes began.
Even the most cautious schools are seeing outbreaks | Sy Mukherjee | September 17, 2020 | Fortune
That would still take two decades, and require a lot of workers and money.
Suppressing fires has failed. Here’s what California needs to do instead. | James Temple | September 17, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
It has been revised to require two flips to insert the edge.
A New Algorithm for Graph Crossings, Hiding in Plain Sight | Stephanie DeMarco | September 15, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
The company wasn’t required to keep workers on the payroll or stop returning money to shareholders.
The Big Corporate Rescue and the America That’s Too Small to Save | by Lydia DePillis, Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel | September 12, 2020 | ProPublica
These apps may not charge a maximum APR higher than 36%, including costs or fees and fees, or require payment in full in 60 days or less.
Apple revises App Store rules to permit game streaming apps, clarify in-app purchases and more | Sarah Perez | September 11, 2020 | TechCrunch

House rules require an absolute majority of members voting to choose a speaker.
Kamikaze Congress Prepares to Strike Boehner | Ben Jacobs | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
Limbaugh makes comments like this because his right-wing fans require a non–stop diet of race-baiting red meat.
Rush Limbaugh’s Fear of a Black James Bond | Dean Obeidallah | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
That makes New York the ninth state to require such coverage.
The Insurance Company Promised a Gender Reassignment. Then They Made a Mistake. | James Joiner | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Chickens require significantly less land, water, and energy than all other meat options except farmed salmon.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity | William O’Connor | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Bohac said the bill does not require anyone to say “Merry Christmas” if they are not up for it.
A Field General in the War on Christmas | David Freedlander | December 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The events which succeeded this fortunate capture are too well known to require more than a very brief recapitulation.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. | Various
While the test is somewhat tedious, all the manipulations are simple and require no apparatus but flasks, test-tubes, and funnels.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
We followed the upland past the end of the Stone till we found a slope that didn't require wings for descent.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
Are you quite sure,” asked the missionary pointedly, “that you are supplied with everything else that you require?
Hunting the Lions | R.M. Ballantyne
The terms law and equity are frequently used in the law books and require explanation.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney Bolles

British Dictionary definitions for require

require

/ (rɪˈkwaɪə) /

verb(mainly tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive)

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

Origin of require

C14: from Old French requerre, from Vulgar Latin requaerere (unattested) to seek after, from Latin requīrere to seek to know, but also influenced by quaerere to seek

usage For require

The use of require to as in I require to see the manager or you require to complete a special form is thought by many people to be incorrect: I need to see the manager; you are required to complete a special form

Derived forms of require

requirable, adjective
requirer, noun

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

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