need
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: nēd
ipa: /niːd/
ipa: [nɪi̯d]
ipa: /nid/
ipa: [niːd]
homophone: knead
homophone: kneed
rhymes: -iːd
Forms: form: needs
form: needing
form: needed
form: needed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: need
form: need
form: needed
form: need
form: needest
form: needed
form: neededst
form: needs
form: needeth
form: needed
form: need
form: needed
form: need
form: needed
form: need
form: -
form: needing
form: needed
Etymology: From Middle English neden, from Old English nēodian.
Senses: examples: text: Living things need water to survive.
text: You do not always need to go to the library to study. You may use the Internet.
text: 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.
ref: 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: To have an absolute requirement for.
examples: text: After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
glosses: To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
examples: text: I need not go if I don't want to, need I?
text: I was wondering if I need fill in more forms. - No, that's the only one you need fill out.
text: I need never have packed my set of sunglasses - it rained all day every day.
glosses: To be obliged or required (to do something).
raw_tags: in the negative and interrogative
examples: text: When we have done it, we have done our duty, and all that is in our power, and indeed all that needs.
ref: 1694, [John Locke], chapter 21, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Thomas Dring, […]; and Samuel Manship, […], →OCLC, book II, page 143:
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
glosses: To be required; to be necessary.
examples: text: More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount, / Here needes me […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: To be necessary (to someone).
Synonyms: sense: desire
word: desire
sense: desire
word: wish for
sense: desire
word: would like
sense: desire
word: want
sense: desire
word: will
sense: lack
word: be without
sense: lack
word: lack
sense: require
word: be in need of
sense: require
word: require
Derived terms: a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
baby needs new shoes
citation needed
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