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Definitions

need

[need] / nid /






Usage

What are other ways to say need? The verb need often suggests urgency, stressing the necessity of supplying what is lacking: to need an operation, better food, a match to light the fire. Require, which expresses necessity as strongly as need, occurs most frequently in serious or formal contexts: Your presence at the hearing is required. Successful experimentation requires careful attention to detail. Lack means to be without or to have less than a desirable quantity of something: to lack courage, sufficient money, enough members to make a quorum. 

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I have been on many road trips in my life, most of which were planned around some age-appropriate, seemingly life-changing and specific-to-me-hilarious dramatic need for a change in home address.

From Salon • Jun. 1, 2026

"The key things with these tools is that they need to be in the hands of the right people," he said.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026

“We need a new articulation of what conservatives believe,” he writes, and “a fresh argument for how a rising generation can apply these principles to the challenges of today.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026

As is the case with Fidelity and Schwab, customers for these three brokerages need to submit conditional offers or indications of interest to be eligible to receive an allocation.

From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026

So much so that she didn’t even need to be told much else, but he told her anyway.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith




Vocabulary lists containing need


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