Needy
adj ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 needy people collectively wordnet
- 1 In need; poor.
"Needy people want to give too, but have few material goods to offer."
- 2 Desiring constant affirmation; lacking self-confidence.
"It's emotionally exhausting to be around her because she's so needy."
- 3 Needful; necessary. archaic
"It is the measure of things, and their time (that is, their measure, as to space and time), and yet it is above, and prior to, time: it is full in needy things, and overflows in full things; it is unutterable, innominable: it is above understanding […]"
- 1 demanding or needing attention, affection, or reassurance to an excessive degree wordnet
- 2 poor enough to need help from others wordnet
Example
More examples"The city supplied the needy with blankets."
Etymology
From Middle English nedy, nedi (“necessitous”), from Old English nēdiġ, *nīediġ ("of need, obligated, compelled"; found in the derivative nīediġnes (“obligation”)), from Proto-Germanic *naudigaz (“of need, forced, compelled”), equivalent to need + -y. Cognate with Scots nedy, neidy (“needy, necessitous, impoverished”), Saterland Frisian niedich (“miserable, poor, wretched, needy”), Saterland Frisian nöödich (“necessary, needful”), West Frisian nedich (“needful, needed”), Dutch nodig (“necessary”), Middle Low German nōdich (“necessary, urgent, by requirement”), German nötig (“necessary, needful”), Danish nødig (“necessary”), Swedish nödig (“necessary”), Icelandic nauðugur (“constrained”).
Related phrases
More for "needy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.