Etimology
From Middle English need, nede, a merger of two terms: Old English nīed (West Saxon), nēd (Mercian), nēad (“necessity, compulsion, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *naudi, from Proto-Germanic *naudiz, from Proto-Indo-European *neh₂w- (“death”). Old English nēod (“desire, longing”), from Proto-West Germanic *neud, from Proto-Germanic *neudaz (“wish, urge, desire, longing”), from Proto-Indo-European *new- (“to incline, tend, move, push, nod, wave”).
noun
need (countable and uncountable, plural needs)
(countable and uncountable) A requirement for something; something needed.
Lack of means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution.
Examples
There's no need to speculate; we can easily find out for sure.
She grew irritated with his constant need for attention.
Our needs are not being met.
I've always tried to have few needs beyond food, clothing and shelter.
Being so great, I have no need to beg.
Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy.
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.
Famine is in thy cheeks; Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes.
Etimology
From Middle English neden, from Old English nēodian.
verb
need (third-person singular simple present needs, present participle needing, simple past and past participle needed)
(transitive) To have an absolute requirement for.
(transitive) To want strongly; to feel that one must have something.
(modal, chiefly in the negative) To be obliged or required (to do something).
(intransitive) To be required; to be necessary.
(obsolete, transitive) To be necessary (to someone).
Examples
Living things need water to survive.
You do not always need to go to the library to study. You may use the Internet.
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.
After ten days of hiking, I needed a shower and a shave.
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.
You need not go if you don't want to.
When we have done it, we have done our duty, and all that is in our power, and indeed all that needs.
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.
More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount, / Here needes me […]
Related words
synonyms
(desire): desire, wish for, would like, want, will (archaic)
(lack): be without, lack
(require): be in need of, require