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need |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. ). From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Need \Need\, adv Of necessity. See {Needs}. [Obs.] --Chaucer. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: need n 1: a condition requiring relief; "she satified 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}, {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 demands 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 [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 wanting for friends and money"
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