need
pronunciation
How to pronounce need in British English:
UK [niːd]
How to pronounce need in American English:
US [niːd]
-
- Noun:
- a condition requiring relief
- anything that is necessary but lacking
- the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior
- a state of extreme poverty or destitution
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- Verb:
- require as useful, just, or proper
- have need of
- have or feel a need for
Word Origin
- need
- need: [OE] Need is a widespread Germanic noun, with relatives also in German not, Dutch nood, Swedish nöd, and Danish nød. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *nauthiz, whose non- Germanic relatives, such as Old Prussian nautin ‘necessity, distress’ and Czech nyti ‘languish’, reveal its darker past, in which the accent was on ‘distress’ and ‘straitened circumstances’ rather than just the desirability of having something (these connotations survive in German not, which means ‘misery, danger, emergency’ as well as ‘need’).
- need (n.)
- Old English nied (West Saxon), ned (Mercian) "necessity, compulsion, duty; hardship, distress; errand, business," originally "violence, force," from Proto-Germanic *nauthiz/*naudiz (cognates: Old Saxon nod, Old Norse nauðr, Old Frisian ned, Middle Dutch, Dutch nood, Old High German not, German Not, Gothic nauþs "need"), probably cognate with Old Prussian nautin "need," and perhaps with Old Church Slavonic nazda, Russian nuzda, Polish nędza "misery, distress," from PIE *nau- (1) "death, to be exhausted" (see narwhal). The more common Old English word for "need, necessity, want" was ðearf, but they were connected via a notion of "trouble, pain," and the two formed a compound, niedðearf "need, necessity, compulsion, thing needed." Nied also might have been influenced by Old English neod "desire, longing," which often was spelled the same. Common in Old English compounds, such as niedfaru "compulsory journey," a euphemism for "death;" niedhæmed "rape," the second element being an Old English word meaning "sexual intercourse;" niedling "slave." Meaning "extreme poverty, destitution" is from c. 1200.
- need (v.)
- Old English neodian "be necessary, be required (for some purpose); require, have need of," from the same root as need (n.). Meaning "to be under obligation (to do something)" is from late 14c. Related: Needed; needing. The adjectival phrase need-to-know is attested from 1952. Dismissive phrase who needs it?, popular from c. 1960, is a translated Yiddishism.
Example
- 1. I think I need help .
- 2. Do you need extra resources ?
- 3. We need much faster growth .
- 4. State pension ages need raising .
- 5. Perhaps they need not have bothered .