need

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. necessity, requirement; desire, want, privation, lack, poverty; use. —v. t. require, crave, claim, demand, yearn; lack, want.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Poverty]

Syn. indigence, penury, pennilessness; see poverty 1 .

2. [Lack]

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

3. [A requirement]

Syn. 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 .

• have need to,

Syn. be compelled to, require, want; see must .

• if need be,

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

Syn.- 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 need [ they 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 ] v.

Syn. 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 .

Ant. own*, have, hold.

1. [Require]

Syn. demand, necessitate, oblige; see must , need to .

See Synonym Study at lack .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. poverty destitution, indigence, penury, privation.

2. requirement requisite, prerequisite, necessity, essential, obligation.

3. lack want, dearth, paucity, insufficiency, shortage.

II

v.

require, must have, want, call for, lack, have use for, hunger for, desire, covet, got to have, can't live without.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. A condition in which something necessary or desirable is required or wanted: exigence, exigency, necessity. See NECESSARY. 2. Something indispensable: condition, essential, must, necessity, precondition, prerequisite, requirement, requisite, sine qua non. See NECESSARY. 3. Something asked for or needed: demand, exigence, exigency (often used in plural), want. See NECESSARY, OVER. 4. 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. 5. The condition of being extremely poor: beggary, destitution, impecuniosity, impecuniousness, impoverishment, indigence, neediness, penni-lessness, penuriousness, penury, poverty, privation, want. See RICH. II verb 1. To be required or compelled to do: must. Idioms: have got to, have to, must needs. See NECESSARY. 2. To be without what is needed, required, or essential: lack, require, want. See OWNED.