demands

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of demand.

   The union presented a list of demands to management before the strike.

   Caring for three children placed constant demands on her time.

   Note

   The plural mostly belongs to the claim-and-requirement meanings of demand: a list of demands, the demands of a job, constant demands on someone's time. In the economic meaning of buying interest, demand usually behaves as a mass noun and stays singular, as in demand for housing rose. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present-tense form. A direct object after it, as in demands silence, marks the verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of demand.

   The judge demands silence whenever the witness begins to speak.

   Such a delicate procedure demands absolute precision from the surgeon.

   Note

   Only a singular subject takes this form in the present: the judge demands, a task demands. With I, you, we or they, the base form demand returns. It carries the verb's whole range, from insisting forcefully to requiring something of someone, and in law it even covers summoning a party to court. In the requiring meaning the subject is often a thing rather than a person, as when a delicate procedure demands precision.

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