Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

need

[need] / nid /






Usage

What are other ways to say need? The verb need often suggests urgency, stressing the necessity of supplying what is lacking: to need an operation, better food, a match to light the fire. Require, which expresses necessity as strongly as need, occurs most frequently in serious or formal contexts: Your presence at the hearing is required. Successful experimentation requires careful attention to detail. Lack means to be without or to have less than a desirable quantity of something: to lack courage, sufficient money, enough members to make a quorum. 

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

For patients who need Ozempic to control their diabetes or heart disease, the benefits probably outweigh the risk, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 19, 2026

"We need to look at each other and know that we have to work and improve because there is still a long way to go."

From BBC Sep. 18, 2026

Investors don’t need to predict the end of humanity.

From MarketWatch Sep. 18, 2026

For heavily themed intergalactic-inspired dishes, you need to drive to Anaheim where vendors at Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge sell Grogu cookies and Bantha milk.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 17, 2026

“Nah, he does that stuff by himself. He doesn’t need me. In fact, he makes all the snacks around here. That’s the deal, right, Paul?”

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

“The California Community Colleges remain committed to high-quality, affordable bachelor’s degrees that meet workforce needs and are accessible where students live and work,” she said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 19, 2026

Almost everyone in South Africa agrees more needs to be done.

From BBC Sep. 18, 2026

“Like a doctor the conservator needs to understand the case history of the building in order to make a correct diagnosis and to prescribe the correct medicine or therapy,” Mr. Warrack says.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 18, 2026

“Who needs hospitals and insurance,” Kyle asks, “when we have TikTok and YouTube?”

From Salon Sep. 18, 2026

I was perhaps a little sharp with her, but even Mila needs to take second place now.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

The flashy e-commerce company gave many employees their first taste of startup culture—and the experience they needed to start their own companies.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 18, 2026

TfW said it was exploring a pilot to allow eligible railcards to be linked to pay-as-you-go accounts, and hoped to introduce child fares in future, but said further development was needed.

From BBC Sep. 18, 2026

Now they have worsened to the state that they are in deeply oversold territory, which might suggest a bounce may be needed before declines can resume.

From MarketWatch Sep. 18, 2026

The experiments were conducted in fruit flies, so additional research will be needed to determine how closely the same mechanisms operate in people.

From Science Daily Sep. 18, 2026

San Francisco needed the land under the old pioneer cemetery where he was buried.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Or maybe CEOs just realized investment plans were unrealistic, needing too much of the world’s energy and savings to be feasible, much less profitable?

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 16, 2026

Even after children reach adulthood, parents may continue to see them as needing protection, rather than as capable of confronting difficult truths.

From Slate Sep. 11, 2026

"Not just Madrid needing F1, maybe even F1 needing Madrid," he concludes.

From BBC Sep. 10, 2026

Wildlife traders often describe animals as needing to be "rehomed", rather than explicitly offering them for sale, and post tightly cropped images of their wares to avoid revealing their locations.

From Barron's Sep. 10, 2026

I was remembering, with some unease, the crack Bunny had made about Henry needing a lawyer.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt




Vocabulary lists containing need


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training