need
verbEtymology From Middle English neden, from Old English nēodian.
1
To have an absolute requirement for.
- Living things need water to survive.
- You do not always need to go to the library to study. You may use the Internet.
2 more examples
- She needed convincing that I was what she really needed.
- Scotland needed a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knock-out stages, and for long periods of a ferocious contest looked as if they might pull it off.2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
2
To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
- After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
- Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
3
Modal, In the negative and interrogative To be obliged or required (to do something).
- I need not go if I don't want to, need I?
- I was wondering if I need fill in more forms. - No, that's the only one you need fill out.
1 more example
- I need never have packed my set of sunglasses - it rained all day every day.
4
To be required; to be necessary.
- When we have done it, we have done our duty, and all that is in our power, and indeed all that needs.1694, [John Locke], chapter 21, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Thomas Dring, […]; and Samuel Manship, […], →OCLC, book II, page 143:
- Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
5
Obsolete To be necessary (to someone).
- More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount, / Here needes me […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
33 terms
a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, baby needs new shoes, citation needed, do you need an invitation, do you need help, do you need to use the bathroom, every king needs a queen, feeling, good wine needs no bush, I need ..., I need a guide, I need to vomit, last thing one needs, like one needs a hole in the head, needable, needed, unneeded, needer, need I say more, needling, needment, need no introduction, need not, need one's bumps, need one's bumps felt, need one's head examined, need to, need-to-know, never ask the barber if you need a haircut, on a need-to-know basis, with friends like these who needs enemies, with friends like those who needs enemies, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows