Another word for need

need Synonyms

need

n.

Poverty
indigence, penury, pennilessness; see poverty 1.
Lack
insufficiency, shortage, inadequacy; see lack 1, 2.
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

be compelled to, require, want; see must.

if need be

if it is required, if the occasion demands, if necessary; see if.

need Synonyms

need

v.

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

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WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Another word for need

noun

A condition in which something necessary or desirable is required or wanted:
exigence, exigency, necessity. See necessary
Something indispensable:
condition, essential, must, necessity, precondition, prerequisite, requirement, requisite, sine qua non. See necessary
Something asked for or needed:
demand, exigence, exigency (often used in plural), want. See necessary, over
An act or course of action that is demanded of one, as by position, custom, law, or religion:
burden¹, charge, commitment, duty, imperative, must, obligation, responsibility. See obligation
The condition of being extremely poor:
beggary, destitution, impecuniosity, impecuniousness, impoverishment, indigence, neediness, pennilessness, penuriousness, penury, poverty, privation, want. See rich

verb

To be required or compelled to do:
must. Idioms: have got to, have to, must needs. See necessary
To be without what is needed, required, or essential:
lack, require, want. See owned