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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.

“During processing, the traveler underwent additional inspection, a routine part of CBP’s inspection process when officers need to verify information or determine admissibility,” CBP said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

But Reeves said there needed to be a fundamental shift in spending across the board, with current global tensions showing the need for resilience in critical sectors.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

The commission described an "urgent need" to protect a "growing market for general-purpose AI assistants" and give space for smaller players and new entrants to challenge large incumbents.

From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026

You also, crucially, need to know your current Social Security benefit or your projected future benefit, depending on your situation, which you can get by logging in to your online Social Security account.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026

“We need to leave here in five minutes or else,” Dad says.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold




Vocabulary lists containing need


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