NEED • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • 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

... at him in amazement. "Just what in the devil do you think roboteachers are for? They're supposed to teach you. If you knew arithmetic we wouldn't need roboteachers." ...

— There Will Be School Tomorrow • V. E. Thiessen

... at this point, but it is here that the most important part of the life of Jesus begins,—His suffering, death, and resurrection. Other accounts of Buddha's death need not here be considered, even though they reveal ...

— Christianity As A Mystical Fact - And The Mysteries of Antiquity • Rudolf Steiner

... alike, when some one or two prime and able wits in the school, [Greek: auto didaktoi] (which he culs out to admiration if strangers come, as a costardmonger his fairest pippins) like fleet hovnds go away with the game, when the rest need helping over a stile a mile behind: hence, being either quite discouraged in themselves, or taken away by their friends (who for the most part measure their learning by the form they set in), they take leave of their books while ...

— Bibliomania; or Book-Madness - A Bibliographical Romance • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... too, old chap; only I don't see why the doctor need have prohibited your talking about the affair. We've all been thinking you went through untold horrors, when it was ...

— The Kopje Garrison - A Story of the Boer War • George Manville Fenn

... disturb him," he said; "but there is no need to mind; he will sleep a great deal for days, till this state of exhaustion has passed off. My dear boys, what a night we had! I wonder that any ...

— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn

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