✅ Demand refers to asking for something in an urgent, bold, or sternly authoritative way (They demanded action).

✅ Require refers to asking for something that is necessary, or to compel something to happen (The town requires all pet vaccinations to be up to date).

✅ Require and demand both imply that the person asking is doing so in an authoritative way.

✅ Demand often implies an aggressive, particularly stern authority (We demand respect!), whereas require implies an equally firm but less outwardly aggressive authority (There are several areas of the proposal that require your attention).

We won’t demand that you look at these synonyms for require, but we hope you do!

✅ Stream can refer to an actual body of water that is smaller than a river and follows a course (I crossed the stream carefully).

✅ Current can refer to the flow of a river or to the flow of a section of water in a larger body like the ocean (The current swept the debris away).

✅ Stream and current are synonymous when referring to a flow of liquid or a similar flow, figurative or physical (a stream of blood; a stream of visitors; shifting wind currents; intellectual currents of the period).

Try using current in a sentence about the ocean with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Intent is the best word when you have a wish, goal, or desire that you’re going to carry out, especially when expressed in a formal or legal context (an intent to commit burglary; Their intent was to save the company).

✅ Purpose is the best word for a less formal or more broad goal (His purpose in asking the question was to solve the crime), and can also refer to the determination needed to achieve that goal (She had a strong sense of purpose).

✅ The phrases ‘with intent’ and ‘on purpose’ both suggest that you knew what you were doing and expected the consequences. ‘With intent’ carries that meaning more strongly (I broke it on purpose; He attacked with intent).

For all intents and purposes, here are more synonyms for purpose!