need

need [nēd]

n.

[ME nede < OE nied, akin to Ger not, Goth nauths < IE * neuti- < base * neu-, to collapse with weariness > Welsh newyn, starvation]

1. necessity or obligation created by some situation [no need to worry]

2. a lack of something useful, required, or desired [to have need of a rest]

3. something useful, required, or desired that is lacking; want; requirement [list your daily needs]

4.

a) a condition in which there is a deficiency of something, or one requiring relief or supply [a friend in need]

b) a condition of poverty, or extreme want

vt.

to have need of; want or lack; require: need is often used as an auxiliary, either uninflected and followed by an infinitive without to, or inflected and followed by an infinitive with to, meaning “to be obliged, must” [he need not come, he needs to be careful]

vi.

1. Archaic to be necessary; chiefly in impersonal constructions [it needs not]

2. to be in need: See also NEEDS

SYN.- LACK

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have need to

to be compelled or required to; must

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if need be

if it is required; if the occasion demands

needer

n.

SYN.- NEED refers to an urgent requirement of something essential or desirable that is lacking; NECESSITY, a more formal word, suggests an imperative need for something indispensable but lacks the emotional connotations of NEED [they are in need of food, food is a necessity for all living things ]; EXIGENCY refers to a necessity created by some emergency, crisis, or compelling circumstances [the exigencies created by the flood ]; REQUISITE applies to something that is indispensable to a particular end or goal [a sense of rhythm is a requisite in a dancer ]