need - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English need, nede, a merger of two terms:

need (countable and uncountable, plural needs)

  1. (countable and uncountable) A requirement for something; something needed.
    Synonyms: occasion, use
    There's no need to speculate; we can easily find out for sure.
    She grew irritated with his constant need for attention.
    Our needs are not being met.
    I've always tried to have few needs beyond food, clothing and shelter.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
      Being so great, I have no need to beg.
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:
      Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy.
    • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
      One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. […] But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.
  2. A desire or craving for the satisfaction of a requirement perceived as essential or primal.
  3. Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.

Adjectives often used with "need"

something required

lack of means of subsistence

From Middle English neden, from Old English nēodian.

need (third-person singular simple present needs, present participle needing, simple past and past participle needed)

  1. (transitive) 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.
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
    After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
    • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
      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.
  3. (modal, chiefly 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.
    I need never have packed my set of sunglasses - it rained all day every day.
  4. (intransitive) To be required; to be necessary.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To be necessary (to someone).

to have an absolute requirement for

to want strongly

to be obliged to

to be required or necessary

  1. ^ "Needs washed" by Zach Maher and Jim Wood, Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America, 2011
  2. ^ “You Need To Read This: How need to vanquished have to, must, and should.” by Ben Yagoda, Slate, July 17, 2006

From Proto-Finnic *nek (“those”, medial). The nominative form has been extended with the regular nominative plural ending (-d). Compare dialectal Finnish net (“they”, chiefly inanimate).

need (genitive nende, partitive neid)

  1. these, those

Declension of see (irregular)

From Proto-Finnic *nek (the nominative plural ending has been replaced with the standard ending -d), from Proto-Uralic *ne.

need

  1. (demonstrative) those
Inflection of need
singular plural
nominative see neednee
genitive sene neijenedʹdʹe
accusative sene neijenedʹdʹe
partitive sitä neit
illative sihe neise
inessive senez neiz
elative seness neiss
allative selle neille
adessive sell neill
ablative selt neilt
translative senessi neissi
**) the terminative is formed by adding the suffix -ssaa to the short illative (sg) or the genitive. ***) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka to the genitive.For dialectal differences between case endings, see Appendix:Votic dialects.
Votic demonstratives
proximal neutral/distal
singular kase see
plural kaned need

From Old Frisian nēd, nād, from Proto-Germanic *naudiz.

need c (plural neden)

  1. need

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