NEED • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Need

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verb

Need v. t. (past & past part. needed; pres. part. needing) To be in want of; to have cause or occasion for; to lack; to require, as supply or relief. "Other creatures all day long Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest." Note: With another verb, need is used like an auxiliary, generally in a negative sentence expressing requirement or obligation, and in this use it undergoes no change of termination in the third person singular of the present tense. "And the lender need not fear he shall be injured."

Need v. i. To be wanted; to be necessary. "When we have done it, we have done all that is in our power, and all that needs."

noun

Need n.

A state that requires supply or relief; pressing occasion for something; necessity; urgent want. "And the city had no need of the sun." "I have no need to beg." "Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy."

Want of the means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution. "Famine is in thy cheeks; Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes."

That which is needful; anything necessary to be done; (pl.) necessary things; business. (Obs.)

Situation of need; peril; danger. (Obs.)

Synonyms: Exigency; emergency; strait; extremity; necessity; distress; destitution; poverty; indigence; want; penury. Need, Necessity. Necessity is stronger than need; it places us under positive compulsion. We are frequently under the necessity of going without that of which we stand very greatly in need. It is also with the corresponding adjectives; necessitous circumstances imply the direct pressure of suffering; needy circumstances, the want of aid or relief.

adverb

Need adv. Of necessity. See Needs. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Need'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Need" Quotes from Famous Books

... I left, they had not entered it. Everyone says that it must have been fired on purpose, for the flames seem to have burst out in all parts at once. No one in the town thought that I had an enemy in the world, and all have been wondering who could have had a grudge against me. Of course we need not go very far to guess who was at ...

— The Treasure of the Incas • G. A. Henty

... would have marked the manner in which the sails upon the "Sea Witch" had been secured, and the way in which she was moored. If need be, three minutes would have covered her with canvass, and slipping her cable she could in that space of time, had the order been issued from her quarter deck, have been under way and looking once more seaward. Whatever her business, it was very clear that promptness, ...

— The Sea-Witch - or, The African Quadroon A Story of the Slave Coast • Maturin Murray

... Vaughan met with at Weimar satisfied him that he need go no further; neither the Landgrave nor the Duke of Lunenberg would be likely to venture on a course which the elector so obviously feared. He, therefore, gave up his ...

— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude

... baffled doctor fumed in the conference that he had with Ewbert apart, "he doesn't really need any medicine. There's nothing the matter with him, and I only wanted to give him something to put an edge to his appetite. He's got cranky living here alone; but there is such a thing as starving to death, and ...

— A Pair of Patient Lovers • William Dean Howells

... Dragging about in this dreary, heartless way is all that ails me, and reading for my degree would be the best cure. I mean to work hard for honours, and, if possible, delude myself with hopes of success. Work is the need. Here, there is this one comfort. There is no one to talk to, no birds in last year's nest, sons absent, daughters disposed of, but, unluckily, the Pastoress, under a mistaken sense of kindness, has asked the Vicar's son to walk with me, ...

— Dynevor Terrace (Vol. I) - or, The Clue of Life • Charlotte M. Yonge

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