NEED

noun

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.

Definitions

1. A state that requires supply or relief; pressing occasion for something; necessity; urgent want. And the city had no need of the sun. Rev. xxi. 23. I have no need to beg. Shak. Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy. Jer. Taylor.
2. Want of the means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution. Chaucer. Famine is in thy cheeks; Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes. Shak.
3. That which is needful; anything necessary to be done; (pl.) necessary things; business. [Obs.] Chaucer.
4. Situation of need; peril; danger. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Other Definitions

This word also has 2 other definitions:

NEED (adverb)

Of necessity. See Needs. [Obs.] Chaucer.

NEED (verb)

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 les...

Added: October 09, 2025 Updated: October 09, 2025

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