need
a condition requiring relief
How often you will meet it
Rank 451 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 45,355 times across 175,160 chapters — 0.022% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
noun
- a condition requiring relief also: demand she satisfied his need for affectionGod has no need of men to accomplish His work
- anything that is necessary but lacking also: want he had sufficient means to meet his simple needsI tried to supply his wants
- 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 also: motivation, motive we did not understand his motivationhe acted with the best of motives
- a state of extreme poverty or destitution also: indigence, penury, pauperism, pauperization their indigence appalled hima general state of need exists among the homeless
verb
- require as useful, just, or proper also: necessitate, ask, postulate, require, take, involve It takes nerve to do what she didsuccess usually requires hard work
- have need of also: want, require This piano wants the attention of a competent tuner
- have or feel a need for always needing friends and money
need in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Then she had failed him at the moment of need.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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Before thou’st said, Before thou’st prayed, He knows thy inmost need.
Cornelli · Johanna Spyri · Chapter 1
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I don't need it a mite, settin' up here so clost to the fire.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch · Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice · Chapter 1
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He did not need to drop out, though he would have done so bravely enough.
The Water-Babies · Charles Kingsley · Chapter 1
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No comment need be made upon a condition of public sentiment responsible for such alarming results.
The Red Record Tabulated Statistics · Ida B. Wells-Barnett · Chapter 1