needily

need·y

(nē′dē)

adj. need·i·er, need·i·est

1. Being in need; impoverished; a charity that helped needy immigrants.

2. Wanting or needing affection, attention, or reassurance, especially to an excessive degree.

need′i·ly adv.

need′i·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

needily

(ˈniːdɪlɪ)

adv

in a needy manner

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

References in periodicals archive ?

Our hero Samuel, a literature professor (played by Elliot Cowan, a sensitive beardo with a tragic expression), has his life upended by a woman who beguiles him, needily gets him to declare his love for her, then slashes her wrists (no spoiler; it happens before the opening credits), haunting his memory forever.

Film review: Muse* and Gringo **

In contrast, Captain Jack is mulish enough so "no Body got anything from him that was obliging in the least." And even when he is in the needily dependent position of begging for survival, "he did it in so ill a Tone, rather like bidding Folks give him Victuals, than entreating them" (8-9).

Criminal children in the eighteenth century and Daniel Defoe's Colonel Jack

But it's gotten better to be a TOQ, as long as you try to stay relevant without being too needily obvious about it.