Needful

//ˈniːdfl̩// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Anything necessary or requisite.

    "I think better of you for looking steadily to the needful."

  2. 2
    Ready money; wherewithal. slang
Adjective
  1. 1
    Needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensable.

    "And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That in every Town in the Colony, where Bread is Baken for Sale, there ſhall be Choſen one Clerk of the Market, or more, as each Town ſhall find needful, at their Annual Election of Town Officers, who ſhall duly be Engaged, to the faithful performance of ſaid Office, as other Town Officers are ;[…]"

  2. 2
    Needy; in need. archaic

    "[…] where his active benevolence was ever found in cheerful co-operation for the cause of the humble & needful orphan […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    necessary for relief or supply wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
necessaryrequiredrequisitecalled forcardinalcurrency

Example

More examples

"To tear away from his dream world and, doing the daily needful, to step into reality was for Tom increasingly painful."

Etymology

From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll.

Related phrases

do the needful

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.