need
Noun pluralneeds
Pluralneeds
- 1To have to do something, or (of a thing or action) to be necessary.
Visitors need to sign in at the front desk.
She needs to renew her passport before the trip.
UsageUsually need to + verb. In negatives and questions it can act like must: you needn't come, need I say more?
- 2To have an absolute requirement for something; to be unable to do without it.
Newborns need constant care during their first weeks.
The recipe needs a full cup of flour.
UsageWith -ing the meaning is passive: the windows need cleaning (need to be cleaned). Also need someone to do something.
Note
The requirement is absolute: living things need water to survive. The softer use belongs to the "want strongly" meaning.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Living things require water to survive. science.nasa.gov
- 3A requirement for something; something that is necessary.
The community has a growing need for affordable housing.
He finally recognized the need to act quickly.
UsageUse for before a noun and to before a verb: a need for housing, no need to shout.
- 4A strong urge to have or do something, whether from desire or a feeling of necessity.
She felt a sudden need to call her mother and hear her voice.
His constant need for approval made it hard for him to say no.
UsageA need to + verb or a need for + noun, often after feel: felt a sudden need to call.
Similarurge, desire, craving, longing
Note
The feeling, not the fact: the plain "requirement" meaning is what you objectively lack, while this need lives inside a person and may not be necessary at all.
- 5
Less common meaning
- 6The condition of lacking the means to live; poverty or destitution.
Decades of war plunged the region into widespread need.
Their need was visible in the bare shelves and worn clothing.
UsageMost common in in need: families in need, help for those in need.
Similarpoverty, hardship, want, destitution, deprivation
Note
Here the old sense of "want" hardens into hardship: having too little to live on. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet sets Need beside Famine and oppression, almost as a figure of affliction. That gives it a weightier, more literary feel than poverty or destitution. It continues the "want" carried by the Old English ancestor of the everyday noun.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. en.wikisource.org
- Romeo and Juliet places need alongside famine and oppression; Romeo speaks the passage to the apothecary in Act V, Scene One. en.wikisource.org
- The Old English ancestor of the noun carried a sense of lack or want. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English need, a merger of two Old English terms: nīed ('necessity, compulsion, want'), from Proto-Germanic *naudiz and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *neh₂w- ('death'); and nēod ('desire, longing'), from Proto-West Germanic *niudi ('desire, eagerness').
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The noun comes from Middle English need, a variant of nede, merging two Old English terms. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English nīed meant necessity, compulsion or want and descended from Proto-Germanic *naudiz. en.wiktionary.org
- The nīed branch ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European *neh₂w-, meaning death. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English nēod meant desire or longing and descended from Proto-West Germanic *niudi, meaning desire or eagerness. en.wiktionary.org
From Middle English neden, from Old English nēodian.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The verb need descends from Middle English neden, which descends from Old English nēodian. en.wiktionary.org