Home Synonyms need

Synonyms of need in English:

need


See US English definition of need

See UK English definition of need

See Spanish definition of necesidad

verb

1‘the house still needs a lot of work’

SYNONYMS
require, be in need of, stand in need of, have need of, want, be in want of, be crying out for, be desperate for
demand, call for, necessitate, entail, involve
have occasion for, have occasion to
lack, be without, be short of, miss

2‘you needn't come if you don't want to’

SYNONYMS
have to, be under an obligation to, be obliged to, be compelled to, be under a compulsion to
archaic have need to

3‘she needed him so much that it seemed as if her entire heart and soul were crying out to him’

SYNONYMS
yearn for, pine for, long for, crave for, desire, miss

noun

1‘there's no need to apologize’

SYNONYMS
necessity, obligation, requirement, call, demand
rare exigency

2‘the basic human needs of food and shelter’

SYNONYMS
requirement, essential, necessity, want, requisite, prerequisite, wish, demand
desideratum

3‘a family whose need was particularly pressing’

SYNONYMS
neediness, want, poverty, deprivation, privation, hardship, penury, destitution, indigence, impecuniousness

4‘please don't abandon me in my hour of need’

SYNONYMS
difficulty, trouble, distress
crisis, emergency, urgency, extremity, desperate straits, dire straits
rare exigency

Phrases

    in need

    ‘the organization provides food and clothing to people in need’


    SYNONYMS
    needy, requiring help, deprived, disadvantaged, underprivileged, in want, poor, badly off, unable to make ends meet, in reduced circumstances, in straitened circumstances, unable to keep the wolf from the door, impoverished, poverty-stricken, destitute, penurious, impecunious, indigent
    British on the breadline
    rare necessitous