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need

need

1.0
Something a person must have to live or be healthy
  • noun
  • /nid/
translation icon : necesidad
  • Ultimately, it can play a part in reducing the need for anti-psychotic medicine and residential care.
  • meet needs
  • address the need
  • basic needs

So when you meet one of those needs, you like it.

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Examples

  • If the project design happens to fit the needs of your students, you are in luck.

    Academic text (2011)
  • And they felt that there was a need for a new CEO.

  • Indeed, there was a need to get people to use them.

  • The number one need of most men is respect.

  • My question is, why the need for a national system?

  • We have different wants, needs and likes in products.

  • Most respondents also received assistance with a range of needs, including financial, emotional, and medical support.

    Academic text (2011)
  • A preschool education of good quality will meet these needs of children and support their development.

    Academic text (2011)
  • This 800-megawatt plant generates enough electricity... to meet the needs of a city of three-quarters of a million people.

  • The community organized a fundraiser to address the growing need for affordable housing.

Synonyms

requirement
vsneed
687 2.0

Something you need for a particular purpose or situation

is the general sense of being required rather than a specific demand
demand
vsneed
397 2.3

A need for something that must be supplied or met

is a neutral requirement without the implied pressure or urgency
necessity
vsneed
274 2.0

A thing you need to live, like food or water

is a specific instance or situation where something is required
essential
vsneed
50 2.4

Things you need for a purpose, like food or water

is a less strong requirement that can be simply needed rather than absolute
must
vsneed
6 1.0

Something you need and cannot do without

is a broader, less absolute notion of being required
1 3.5

Something that must be true or happen first for another thing to happen

is the general condition of being required, not only a prior condition

Antonyms

322 4.2

A great comfort from expensive things or experiences that people do not need

Idioms

11 3.9

When it is necessary to do something

to need some poon
  • Offensive
9.9

An informal way to say you want to have sex, often used by men

Compounds

need-to-know
  • Formal
84 7.7

Information given only to people who must have it for their work

22 3.2

Periods when people are in trouble and others must help them

12 5.5

A rule that gives information only to people who need it for their work

1 2.7

An increasing demand for something

How Necessary

imperative
34 5.8
necessity
274 2.0
need
1.0
requirement
687 2.0

Surface Forms

need singular
needs plural

Etymology

Need comes from an old English and German word nēd that meant 'distress' or an 'urgent want'. So a need is something you must have, which is why we use it for things that are necessary.