noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The characteristic of being needy.

   "The kind of family neediness experienced by homemakers differed between classes."

2. 2
   the quality of needing attention and affection and reassurance to a marked degree wordnet
3. 3
   a state of extreme poverty wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

beggarydeprivationdestitutiongripeindigencelack

Antonyms

All antonyms

wantlessness

Example

More examples

"The kind of family neediness experienced by homemakers differed between classes."

Etymology

From Middle English nedynesse; equivalent to needy + -ness.

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