Definition: need
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
need
n 1: a condition requiring relief; "she satisfied his need for
affection"; "God has no need of men to accomplish His
work"; "there is a demand for jobs" [syn: demand]
2: anything that is necessary but lacking; "he had sufficient
means to meet his simple needs"; "I tried to supply his
wants" [syn: want]
3: the psychological feature that arouses an organism to
action; the reason for the action; "we did not understand
his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives" [syn:
motivation, motive]
4: a state of extreme poverty or destitution; "their indigence
appalled him"; "a general state of need exists among the
homeless" [syn: indigence, penury, beggary, pauperism]
v 1: require as useful, just, or proper; "It takes nerve to do
what she did"; "success usually requires hard work";
"This job asks a lot of patience and skill"; "This
position demands a lot of personal sacrifice"; "This
dinner calls for a spectacular dessert" [syn: necessitate,
ask, require, take, involve, call for, demand]
[ant: obviate]
2: have need of: "This piano wants the attention of a competent
tuner" [syn: want, require]
3: be obliged, required, or forced to; "She has to get her
driver's license" [syn: must, have, have got]
4: be in want of
5: be logically necessary [syn: should, ought, must]
6: have or feel a need for: "always needing friends and money"
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Need \Need\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Needed; p. pr. & vb. n. Needing.] [See Need, n. Cf. AS. n?dan to force, Goth. nau?jan.] 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. --Milton. 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.'' --Anacharsis (Trans. ).
Need \Need\, n. [OE. need, neod, nede, AS. ne['a]d, n[=y]d; akin
to D. nood, G. not, noth, Icel. nau[eth]r, Sw. & Dan. n["o]d,
Goth. naups.]
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.
Syn: Exigency; emergency; strait; extremity; necessity;
distress; destitution; poverty; indigence; want; penury.
Usage: 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.
Need \Need\, v. i.
To be wanted; to be necessary. --Chaucer.
When we have done it, we have done all that is in our
power, and all that needs. --Locke.
Need \Need\, adv. Of necessity. See Needs. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
