needful


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Related to needful: Please do the needful

need·ful

 (nēd′fəl)
adj.
1. Necessary; required: needful repairs.
2. Being in need of something: "The mother ... is attracted, distracted, needful of the outside world just when the child requires her to be focused, steady, home" (Anne Roiphe).
n.
(used with a pl. verb) Needy people considered as a group: programs that provided jobs for the needful.

need′ful·ly adv.
need′ful·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.

needful

(ˈniːdfʊl)
adj
1. necessary; needed; required
2. archaic needy; poverty-stricken
n
3. the needful informal money or funds: do you have the needful?.
4. do the needful to perform a necessary task
ˈneedfully adv
ˈneedfulness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

need•ful

(ˈnid fəl)

adj.
1. necessary or required: needful supplies.
2. needy.
[1200–50]
need′ful•ly, adv.
need′ful•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.needful - necessary for relief or supply; "provided them with all things needful"
necessary - absolutely essential
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

needful

adjective necessary, needed, required, essential, vital, imperative, indispensable, stipulated, requisite I will do whatever is needful to obtain the release of my friends.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

needful

adjective
Incapable of being dispensed with:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

needful

[ˈniːdfʊl]
A. ADJnecesario
B. N the needfulel cumquibus
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

needful

adj (old)notwendig, nötig (for, to für, zu)
n (inf: = what is necessary) to do the needfuldas Nötige tun
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

needful

[ˈniːdfʊl] adj (old) → necessario/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
These fellow-mortals, every one, must be accepted as they are: you can neither straighten their noses, nor brighten their wit, nor rectify their dispositions; and it is these people--amongst whom your life is passed--that it is needful you should tolerate, pity, and love: it is these more or less ugly, stupid, inconsistent people whose movements of goodness you should be able to admire-- for whom you should cherish all possible hopes, all possible patience.
He could not go to bed, feeling that it was absolutely needful for him first to think thoroughly over the position that had just arisen.
I think better of you for looking steadily to the needful."
So it came about that at the council at Malo-Yaroslavets, when the generals pretending to confer together expressed various opinions, all mouths were closed by the opinion uttered by the simple-minded soldier Mouton who, speaking last, said what they all felt: that the one thing needful was to get away as quickly as possible; and no one, not even Napoleon, could say anything against that truth which they all recognized.
It might perhaps be carried further than was needful, but it was an error of the right hand if it was an error, for by this she kept up the reputation, such as it was, of her business, and obtained this character, that though she did take care of the women when they were debauched, yet she was not instrumental to their being debauched at all; and yet it was a wicked trade she drove too.
Call me out to stop these riots--give me the needful authority, and half-a-dozen rounds of ball cartridge--'
He ordered the best hay with plenty of oats, crushed beans, and bran, with vetches, or rye grass, as the man might think needful. I heard the master give the order, so I knew there was plenty of good food, and I thought I was well off.
"These are the steps which I think it needful to take at present.
It is also worthy of a sensible and generous nobility to divide the poor amongst them, and supplying them with what is necessary, induce them to work; or to imitate the conduct of the people at Tarentum: for they, permitting the poor to partake in common of everything which is needful for them, gain the affections of the commonalty.
The ladies who were present showed the needful respect for their hostess.
And even if one have all the virtues, there is still one thing needful: to send the virtues themselves to sleep at the right time.
The motion of a raft is the needful motion; it is gentle, and gliding, and smooth, and noiseless; it calms down all feverish activities, it soothes to sleep all nervous hurry and impatience; under its restful influence all the troubles and vexations and sorrows that harass the mind vanish away, and existence becomes a dream, a charm, a deep and tranquil ecstasy.