• Need

    Pronunciation

    Origin 1

    From , nede, a merger of two terms:

    • (West Saxon), nÄ“d (Mercian), nÄ“ad, from , from , from .
    • , from , from , from .

    Full definition of need

    Noun

    need

    (countable and uncountable; plural needs)
    1. (countable and uncountable) A requirement for something; something needed.
      There's no need to speculate; we can easily find out for sure.
      She grew irritated with his constant need for attention.
      Our needs are not being met.
      I've always tried to have few needs beyond food, clothing and shelter.
      • Shakespeare Richard 2|act=IV|scene=i|passage=Being so great, I have no need to beg.
      • Taylor Holy Living|passage=Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy.
      • 2014-06-14, It's a gas, One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains....But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.
    2. Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.
      • Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet|act=V|scene=i|passage=Famine is in thy cheeks;
        Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes.

    Derived terms

    Collocations

    Origin 2

    From , from .

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To have an absolute requirement for.
      Living things need water to survive.
      You do not always need to go to the library to study. You may use the Internet.
    2. (transitive) To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
      After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
    3. (modal verb) To be obliged or required (to do something).
      You need not go if you don't want to.
    4. (intransitive) To be required; to be necessary.
      • Locke Human Understanding|2|21|text=When we have done it, we have done or duty, and all that is in our power, and indeed all that needs.
      • 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk
    5. (obsolete, transitive) To be necessary (to someone).
      • Spenser Faerie Queene|book=II|canto=IX|passage=More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount,
        Here needes me ...

    Usage notes

    The verb need is construed in a few different ways:

    With a direct object, as in “I need your help.”

    With a to-infinitive, as in “I need to go.” Here, the subject of need serves implicitly as the subject of the infinitive.

    With a clause of the form “for object to phrase”, or simply “object to phrase” as in “I need for this to happen” or “I need this to happen.” In both variants, the object serves as the subject of the infinitive.

    As a modal verb, with a bare infinitive; in negative polarity contexts, such as questions (“Need I say more?” “Need you have paid so much?”), with negative expressions such as not (“It need not happen today”; “No one need ever know”), and with similar constructions (“There need only be one”; “it need be signed only by the president”; “I need hardly explain it”). Need in this use does not have inflected forms, aside from the contraction needn’t.

    With a gerund-participle, as in “The car needs washing”, or (in certain dialects) with a past participle, as in “The car needs washed”

    http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003106.html (both meaning roughly “The car needs to be washed”).

    With a direct object and a predicative complement, as in “We need everyone here on time” (meaning roughly “We need everyone to be here on time”) or “I need it gone” (meaning roughly “I need it to be gone”).

    In certain dialects, and colloquially in certain others, with an unmarked reflexive pronoun, as in “I need me a car.”

    A sentence such as “I need you to sit down” or “you need to sit down” is politer than the bare command “sit down”, but less polite than “please sit down”. It is considered somewhat condescending and infantilizing, hence dubbed by some “the kindergarten imperative”, but is quite common in American usage.

    “You Need To Read This: How need to vanquished have to, must, and should.” by Ben Yagoda, Slate, July 17, 2006

    In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb need had the form needest, and had neededst for its past tense.

    Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form needeth was used.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Further reading

    • OneLook
    • Webster 1913
    • Century 1911

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