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need definition

need (nēd)

noun

  1. necessity or obligation created by some situation no need to worry
  2. a lack of something useful, required, or desired to have need of a rest
  3. something useful, required, or desired that is lacking; want; requirement list your daily needs
    1. a condition in which there is a deficiency of something, or one requiring relief or supply a friend in need
    2. a condition of poverty, or extreme want

Etymology: ME nede < OE nied, akin to Ger not, Goth nauths < IE *neuti- < base *neu-, to collapse with weariness > Welsh newyn, starvation

transitive verb

to have need of; want or lack; require: need is often used as an auxiliary, either uninflected and followed by an infinitive without to, or inflected and followed by an infinitive with to, meaning “to be obliged, must” he need not come, he needs to be careful

intransitive verb

  1. Archaic to be necessary; chiefly in impersonal constructions it needs not
  2. to be in need

Related Forms:

need Idioms

have need to

to be compelled or required to; must

if need be

if it is required; if the occasion demands

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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