The noun need means “a felt requirement or obligation” or “the state of being in want.” It can be used as a verb, meaning “to feel the lack of something wanted or regarded as necessary”: He has a need for money. It can also be used as a descriptive adjective, describing someone’s situation: He is in dire need of a new coat.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists 34 different meanings for need, some of which are obsolete. It has been suggested that the senses “need” and “require” are related, since both describe necessary conditions, but need is usually more associated with internal desires or circumstances than with external factors.
Some of the earliest uses of need describe what people need to survive or live well, such as food, water, and shelter. Others use it to refer to things that are needed for the development of an idea or project. It is important for us to be aware of our needs, and not take them for granted.
In the past, some people have advocated a hierarchy of needs, with basic survival needs at the top and emotional and mental well-being at the bottom. More recently, however, many have favored a more holistic view of human needs, based on the idea that people need to be happy and fulfilled in order to be healthy and productive.
To meet the needs of children, schools need to provide a safe and secure environment. Teachers need to be well-trained and caring. Companies need to provide their employees with a good work/life balance.
A variety of approaches have been developed to help people identify their own needs and to find ways to meet them. These include paying attention to feelings as indicators, focusing on what is most important to an individual in each moment, and emphasizing mutually agreed upon strategies for meeting needs. One approach, developed by psychologist Abraham Rosenberg, is to train individuals in the skills of awareness and communication, so that they can identify their own needs and express them effectively.
Need is also used to mean a demand for a specific type of business or organisation, or for individuals with particular skills. This may be a result of a particular economic or social pressure, or a desire to achieve a goal that is important to the community as a whole.
Need can function as a verb or an auxiliary verb, agreeing with its subject and taking to before the verb following it, but not combining with do in questions, negations, and certain other constructions: He needs to go. It can also agree with a present participle, as in The car needs washing, or a past participle, as in He didn’t need to go. In these cases, it is sometimes necessary to add a definite article, as in I need a car and You need a car. This is not always necessary, though: some native speakers don’t use an article before countable nouns in informal contexts.