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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.

Another person said the board was aware and attentive to the size of its positions and the need for diversification throughout the portfolio.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

"I think it is a real crunch point and we need to see some decisive action on this very soon," he said.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

Altman and Pachocki also said they think AI should be available to everyone to use as much as they need, where and how they need it.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

To untangle these possibilities, we need much larger comparative datasets of lesions in wild primates, only then can we begin to trace broader patterns and refine our interpretations of the fossil record.

From Science Daily • Jun. 8, 2026

“I’m gonna need you to have a little more shame,” Arlo says when he enters the kitchen and sees me.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold




Vocabulary lists containing need


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