noun
- A condition requiring relief.
- usage: "she satisfied his need for affection"; "God has no need of men to accomplish His work"; "there is a demand for jobs"
- Anything that is necessary but lacking.
- usage: "he had sufficient means to meet his simple needs"; "I 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.
- usage: "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives"
- synonyms: motivation, motive, need
- A state of extreme poverty or destitution.
- usage: "their indigence appalled him"; "a general state of need exists among the homeless"
- synonyms: indigence, need, penury, pauperism, pauperization
verb
- Require as useful, just, or proper.
- usage: "It takes nerve to do what she did"; "success usually requires hard work"; "This job asks a lot of patience and skill"; "This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice"; "This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert"; "This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent"
- Have need of.
- usage: "This piano wants the attention of a competent tuner"
- Have or feel a need for.
- usage: "always needing friends and money"
- synonyms: need
adverb
- In such a manner as could not be otherwise.
- usage: "it is necessarily so"; "we must needs by objective"
- synonyms: inevitably, necessarily, of necessity
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). needs. Retrieved September 21, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/needs/definitions/1252555 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "needs" http://smartdefine.org/needs/definitions/1252555 (accessed September 21, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, needs, Smart Define, viewed 21 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/needs/definitions/1252555>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "needs" 23 October 2010. Web. 21 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/needs/definitions/1252555> |