require

[ ri-kwahyuhr ]

/ rɪˈkwaɪər /

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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.

OTHER WORDS FOR require

6 obligate, necessitate.

See synonyms for require on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR require

3 forgo.

See antonyms for require on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of require

1300–50; Middle English requiren<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 FROM require

re·quir·a·ble, adjectivere·quir·er, nounnon·re·quir·a·ble, adjectivepre·re·quire, verb (used with object), pre·re·quired, pre·re·quir·ing.

qua·si-re·quired, adjectiveun·re·quired, adjective

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

How to use require in a sentence

It also required that ads print a disclaimer if they digitally altered the models.
How Skinny Is Too Skinny? Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models|Carrie Arnold|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Back when Sam went upstate, job searches required nothing more than a typewriter, some paper, and the classifieds.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside|Justin Rohrlich|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Instead, black models are required to remain meekly, silently off stage, waiting for a turn that may never come.
One Vogue Cover Doesn’t Solve Fashion’s Big Race Problem|Danielle Belton|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The rules change would have required all candidates to do the same.
The World’s Toughest Political Quiz|Jeff Greenfield|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

But they refused to cross the street to help because, they told bystanders, the rules required them instead to call 911.
Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans|Philip K. Howard|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I've never had time to write home about it, for I felt that it required a dissertation in itself to do it justice.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Not only are they required to do things in a proper orderly manner, but people have to treat them with due deference.
Children's Ways|James Sully
Modification in its terms growing in part out of these new conditions will subsequently be required from time to time.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
Lamb with shaking fingers places the required amount in front of him.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
How many times more would you have wished to be refused, and how many refusals would have been required to give me my liberty?
Confidence|Henry James

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 necessarythis 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 commandto require someone to account for his actions

Derived forms of require

requirable, adjectiverequirer, noun

Word Origin for 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

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

require

OTHER WORDS FOR require

OPPOSITES FOR require

Origin of require

synonym study for require

OTHER WORDS FROM require

Words related to require

How to use require in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for require

Derived forms of require

Word Origin for require

usage for require