Definition of "need"

need¹

/niːd/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural needs
1. (countable and uncountable) A requirement for something; something needed.
  Quotations
  Being so great, I have no need to beg.
  1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]
  Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy.
  1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […]
  One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. […] But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.
  2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891
2. Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.
  Quotations
  Famine is in thy cheeks; Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes.
  c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]

need²

/niːd/

verb
third-person singular simple present needs, present participle needing, simple past and past participle needed
1. (transitive) To have an absolute requirement for.
  Quotations
  Scotland needed a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knock-out stages, and for long periods of a ferocious contest looked as if they might pull it off.
  2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport
2. (transitive) To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
  Quotations
  Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
  2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4
3. (modal verb) To be obliged or required (to do something).
4. (intransitive) To be required; to be necessary.
  Quotations
  When we have done it, we have done or duty, and all that is in our power, and indeed all that needs.
  1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], book I, page 21
  Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
  2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
5. (obsolete, transitive) To be necessary (to someone).
  Quotations
  More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount, / Here needes me […]
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

Definition of "need"

need1

noun

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need2

verb

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need¹

need²