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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.

If we want durable protection for the rights of all voters and durable constraints on racial gerrymandering, we need an act of Congress.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

Charles founded the nonprofit in 2013 in honor of her late aunt, Maureen “Hopey” Vaz, to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and provide automated external defibrillators to schools and recreation centers that need them.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

Best part: The clippers work for cheap, and none of the promotional aspects need to be publicly disclosed, thanks to a federal-regulation loophole that relaxes transparency standards on ads that don’t sell tangible products.

From Slate • May 6, 2026

Data centers need the technology to move data within and between AI servers, such as those made by Nvidia.

From Barron's • May 6, 2026

When we were in need, the ancestors called us here.

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




Vocabulary lists containing need