need
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.
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.
a condition marked by the lack of something requisite: the need for leadership.
destitution; extreme poverty: The family's need is acute.
to have need of; require: to need money.
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, not needs): He need not go.
to be in need or want.
to be necessary: There needs no apology.
Idioms about need
if need be, should the necessity arise: If need be, I can type the letters myself.
Origin of need
1synonym study For need
Other words for need
Opposites for need
Other words from need
- needer, noun
- un·need·ed, adjective
- well-needed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use need in a sentence
Planned burns are human-made events and as such need to follow all environmental compliance rules.
They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen? | by Elizabeth Weil | August 28, 2020 | ProPublicaYes, MGM is doing its best to meet the somewhat tailored needs of the WFH crowd.
Half of them respected it and said that I shouldn’t feel the need to respond and things like that.
‘The dollar amount isn’t worth the mental toll’: Confessions of a media buyer on the pressure to keep performance up amid the pandemic | Kristina Monllos | August 25, 2020 | DigidayThey see that you’re serious about meeting their needs and solving their problems in the long-term, so they will be more likely to stick around.
Nine tips to increase the average order value (AOV) of your ecommerce store | Kevin Payne | June 24, 2020 | Search Engine WatchJust keep writing until you feel the content highly meets the needs of your users.
Modern SEO strategy: Three tactics to support your efforts | Nick Chasinov | June 23, 2020 | Search Engine Watch
And an overzealous medical professional, hoping to safeguard against malpractice, can also be a cause of unneeded procedure.
He says they are unneeded, and he would shift two to other circuits with a higher caseload and eliminate the third.
Obama Picks Pawns in Political Fight as GOP Aims to Cut Down D.C. Circuit Court | Eleanor Clift | June 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIt's irresponsible and unneeded: preserving the Bush tax cuts will be tax relief achievement enough.
Now, many of these programs should go; they're either unneeded or ineffective.
How Obama's State of the Union Muddied the Budget Debate | Robert J. Samuelson | January 26, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTGrievance enough for any man who resented the disturbance of unneeded change.
Kenny | Leona DalrympleRussell's speech was an unneeded but emphatic negative of the pro-Southern effort.
Great Britain and the American Civil War | Ephraim Douglass AdamsEvidently that appeal, though enthusiastically received for its oratorical brilliance, was unneeded.
Great Britain and the American Civil War | Ephraim Douglass AdamsYet He knows and will never send one unneeded pang; will cause all things to work together for good to them that love Him.
The Thorn in the Nest | Martha FinleyThere is a provision for defense in the Agskian code, but it was unneeded because The Eel had pleaded guilty.
The Eel | Miriam Allen DeFord
British Dictionary definitions for need
/ (niːd) /
(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?
(intr) archaic to be essential or necessary to: there needs no reason for this
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
Origin of need
1- See also needs
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with need
In addition to the idiom beginning with need
- needle in a haystack
- needless to say
- need like a hole in the head
also see:
- cry for (crying need for).
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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