Adjacent Words

Require definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REQUI'RE, v.t. [L. requiro; re and quaero, to seek. See Query.]
1. To demand; to ask, as of right and by authority. We require a person to do a thing, and we require a thing to be done.
Why then doth my lord require this thing? 1 Chronicles 21.
2. To claim; to render necessary; as a duty or any thing indispensable; as, the law of God requires strict obedience.
3. To ask as a favor; to request.
I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way. Ezra 8.
[In this sense, the word is rarely used.]
4. To call to account for.
I will require my flock at their hand. Ezek 34.
5. To make necessary; to need; to demand.
The king's business required haste. 2 Samuel 21.
6. To avenge; to take satisfaction for. 2 Samuel 20.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: require as useful, just, or proper; "It takes nerve to do what she did"; "success usually requires hard work"; "This job asks a lot of patience and skill"; "This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice"; "This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert"; "This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent" [syn: necessitate, ask, postulate, need, require, take, involve, call for, demand] [ant: eliminate, obviate, rid of]
2: consider obligatory; request and expect; "We require our secretary to be on time"; "Aren't we asking too much of these children?"; "I expect my students to arrive in time for their lessons" [syn: ask, require, expect]
3: make someone do something [syn: command, require]
4: have need of; "This piano wants the attention of a competent tuner" [syn: want, need, require]

Merriam Webster's

verb (required; requiring) Etymology: Middle English requeren, from Anglo-French requere, from Vulgar Latin *requaerere to seek for, need, require, alteration of Latin requirere, from re- + quaerere to seek, ask Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to claim or ask for by right and authority b. archaic request 2. a. to call for as suitable or appropriate <the occasion requires formal dress> b. to demand as necessary or essential ; have a compelling need for <all living beings require food> 3. to impose a compulsion or command on ; compel 4. chiefly British to feel or be obliged — used with a following infinitive <one does not require to be a specialist — Elizabeth Bowen> intransitive verb archaic ask Synonyms: see demand

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 need; depend on for success or fulfilment (the work requires much patience). 2 lay down as an imperative (did all that was required by law). 3 command; instruct (a person etc.). 4 order; insist on (an action or measure). 5 (often foll. by of, from, or that + clause) demand (of or from a person) as a right. 6 wish to have (is there anything else you require?). Derivatives: requirer n. requirement n. Etymology: ME f. OF requere ult. f. L requirere (as RE-, quaerere seek)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Require Re*quire" (r?-kw?r"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Required (-kw?rd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Requiring.] [OE. requeren, requiren, OF. requerre, F. requ?rir; L. pref. re- re- + quaerere to ask; cf. L. requirere. See Query, and cf. Request, Requisite.] 1. To demand; to insist upon having; to claim as by right and authority; to exact; as, to require the surrender of property. Shall I say to C[ae]sar What you require of him? --Shak. By nature did what was by law required. --Dryden. 2. To demand or exact as indispensable; to need. just gave what life required, and gave no more. --Goldsmith. The two last [biographies] require to be particularly noticed. --J. A. Symonds. 3. To ask as a favor; to request. I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way. --Ezra viii. 22. Syn: To claim; exact; enjoin; prescribe; direct; order; demand; need.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(requires, requiring, required) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you require something or if something is required, you need it or it is necessary. (FORMAL) If you require further information, you should consult the registrar... This isn't the kind of crisis that requires us to drop everything else... Some of the materials required for this technique may be difficult to obtain. VERB: V n, V n to-inf, V-ed 2. If a law or rule requires you to do something, you have to do it. (FORMAL) The rules also require employers to provide safety training... At least 35 manufacturers have flouted a law requiring prompt reporting of such malfunctions... The law now requires that parents serve on the committees that plan and evaluate school programs... Then he'll know exactly what's required of him. VERB: V n to-inf, V n, V that, be V-ed of n 3. If you say that something is required reading for a particular group of people, you mean that you think it is essential for them to read it because it will give them information which they should have. ...an important research study that should be required reading for every member of the cabinet. PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR for n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

re-kwir': "Require" meant originally "seek after," whence "ask," and so (as in modern English) "demand." All meanings are common in the King James Version (e.g. 1Sa 21:8; Ec 3:15; Ezr 8:22; 1Co 4:2), and the Revised Version (British and American) has made little change.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Demand, ask, claim, exact, insist upon. 2. Ask, request, beg, beseech. 3. Ask, order, call on, request, enjoin, direct. 4. Need, want, call for, demand, make necessary. 5. Enjoin, prescribe, direct, order.

Moby Thesaurus

affect, appoint, ask, ask for, assess, assume, authorize, be hurting for, be indicated, bind, blackmail, bring, brook no denial, call, call for, challenge, charge, charge for, claim, clamor for, coerce, command, commit, comprise, contain, crave, cry for, cry out for, demand, desire, dictate, entail, exact, extort, force, have occasion for, implicate, imply, impose, indent, insist, instruct, involve, issue an ultimatum, lack, lay down, lead to, leave no option, levy, make, make a demand, make dutiable, make imperative, make incumbent, make obligatory, miss, necessitate, need, obligate, oblige, order, order up, place an order, pledge, postulate, prerequire, prescribe, presume, presuppose, pro rata, prorate, put in requisition, requisition, run short of, saddle with, screw, set, solicit, stick for, subsume, take, take doing, take in, take no denial, tax, tie, tithe, want, want doing, warn