need

[need] /nid/
noun
1.
a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation:
There is no need for you to go there.
2.
a lack of something wanted or deemed necessary:
to fulfill the needs of the assignment.
3.
urgent want, as of something requisite:
He has no need of your charity.
4.
necessity arising from the circumstances of a situation or case:
There is no need to worry.
5.
a situation or time of difficulty; exigency:
to help a friend in need; to be a friend in need.
6.
a condition marked by the lack of something requisite:
the need for leadership.
7.
destitution; extreme poverty:
The family's need is acute.
verb (used with object)
8.
to have need of; require:
to need money.
verb (used without object)
9.
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.
10.
to be in need or want.
11.
to be necessary:
There needs no apology.
Idioms
12.
if need be, should the necessity arise:
If need be, I can type the letters myself.
Origin
before 900; (noun) Middle English nede, Old English nēd (WSaxon nīed), cognate with German Not, Old Norse nauth, Gothic nauths; (v.) Middle English neden, Old English nēodian, derivative of the noun
Related forms
needer, noun
unneeded, adjective
well-needed, adjective
Synonyms
2, 3. See lack. 3. requirement. 4. Need, necessity imply a want, a lack, or a demand, which must be filled. Need, a word of Old English origin, has connotations that make it strong in emotional appeal: the need to be appreciated. Necessity, a word of Latin origin, is more formal and impersonal or objective; though much stronger than need in expressing urgency or imperative demand, it is less effective in appealing to the emotions: Water is a necessity for living things. 5. emergency. 7. neediness, indigence, penury, privation. See poverty. 8. want, lack.
Antonyms
7. wealth.
Examples from the web for need
  • If you're in a position to give to charity, the need is clearly great this year.
  • They need moderate water and occasional feeding to stay strong.
  • You need a plan to succeed at real-time strategy games.
  • Plants need water to make food and grow.
  • Estimate how much water you will need to take with you to survive.
  • We need more co-op money and more promotional efforts that actually work.
  • If you have any doubts, you need only look at the map.
  • There's no need for fancy equipment in your yoga space.
  • That would generate the revenue they will need to repay government loans.
  • Fill the suitcase with drawings of items you need to take with you on a trip.
British Dictionary definitions for need

need

/niːd/
verb
1.
(transitive) to be in want of: to need money
2.
(transitive) to require or be required of necessity (to be or do something); be obliged: to need to do more work
3.
(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?
4.
(intransitive) (archaic) to be essential or necessary to: there needs no reason for this
noun
5.
the fact or an instance of feeling the lack of something: he has need of a new coat
6.
a requirement: the need for vengeance
7.
necessity or obligation resulting from some situation: no need to be frightened
8.
distress or extremity: a friend in need
9.
extreme poverty or destitution; penury
See also needs
Word Origin
Old English nēad, nied; related to Old Frisian nēd, Old Saxon nōd, Old High German nōt
Word Origin and History for need
n.

Old English nied (West Saxon), ned (Mercian) "necessity, compulsion, duty; hardship, distress; errand, business," originally "violence, force," from Proto-Germanic *nauthis (cf. Old Saxon nod, Old Norse nauðr, Old Frisian ned, Middle Dutch, Dutch nood, Old High German not, German Not, Gothic nauþs "need"), probably cognate with Old Prussian nautin "need," and perhaps with Old Church Slavonic nazda, Russian nuzda, Polish nędza "misery, distress," from PIE *nau- "death, to be exhausted" (see narwhal).

The more common Old English word for "need, necessity, want" was ðearf, but they were connected via a notion of "trouble, pain," and the two formed a compound, niedðearf "need, necessity, compulsion, thing needed." Nied also might have been influenced by Old English neod "desire, longing," which often was spelled the same. Common in Old English compounds, e.g. niedfaru "compulsory journey," a euphemism for "death;" niedhæmed "rape," the second element being an Old English word meaning "sexual intercourse;" niedling "slave." Meaning "extreme poverty, destitution" is from c.1200.

v.

Old English neodian "be necessary, be required (for some purpose); require, have need of," from the same root as need (n.). Meaning "to be under obligation (to do something)" is from late 14c. Related: Needed; needing. The adjectival phrase need-to-know is attested from 1952. Dismissive phrase who needs it?, popular from c.1960, is a translated Yiddishism.

Idioms and Phrases with need

need

In addition to the idiom beginning with need also see: cry for (crying need for).