Synonyms for need

noun

1. Poverty

   indigence, penury, pennilessness; see poverty 1.

2. Lack

   insufficiency, shortage, inadequacy; see lack 1, 2.

3. A requirement

   necessity, requirement, requisite, obligation, compulsion, exigency, demand, call, want, essential, necessary, urgency, matter of life and death, desideratum, sine qua non (Latin), must*; see also necessity 1, 2, 3, requirement 2.

need refers to a pressing requirement of something essential or desirable that is lacking; necessity, a more formal word, suggests an imperative need for something indispensable but lacks the emotional connotations of needthey are in need of food, food is a necessity for all living things; exigency refers to a necessity created by some emergency, crisis, or compelling circumstances the exigencies created by the flood; requisite applies to something that is indispensable to a particular end or purpose a sense of rhythm is a requisite in a dancer

have need to

if need be

verb

1. lack, require, feel the necessity for, be in need, suffer privation, be in want, be destitute, be short, be inadequate, have occasion for, feel a dearth, have use for, have need for, miss, be without, do without, be needy, be poor, be bereft, be deprived of, be deficient in, go hungry, not approach, live from hand to mouth, feel the pinch*, be down and out*, be hard up*, be up against it*, do with*; see also want 1.

   Antonyms own*, have, hold.

2. Require

   demand, necessitate, oblige; see must, need to. See syn. study at lack.