"need not" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "need not",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "needed not",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "need not",
        "2": "-",
        "3": "needed not",
        "4": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "need not (third-person singular simple present need not, no present participle, simple past needed not, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "90 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013, Alan Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, page 36:",
          "text": "My example illustrates how circularity can arise in arguments that appeal to experiment. But the very same example serves to show that this need not be the case.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "do not have to, do not need to."
      ],
      "id": "en-need_not-en-verb-RnPVi9lB",
      "links": [
        [
          "necessity",
          "necessity"
        ],
        [
          "have to",
          "have to"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly UK, auxiliary, indicating absence of necessity) do not have to, do not need to."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "indicating absence of necessity"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "56 44",
          "word": "not have to"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "56 44",
          "word": "needn't"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "auxiliary",
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2018 June 1, Gerard Letterie, “Education is the beacon that lights our path forward in America”, in The Seattle Times:",
          "text": "Want ads for what little manual labor there was frequently had the stipulation INNA, an acronym for Italians and Irish Need Not Apply.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Ought not to."
      ],
      "id": "en-need_not-en-verb-RTIE0u2l",
      "links": [
        [
          "inadvisability",
          "inadvisability"
        ],
        [
          "Ought",
          "ought"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(auxiliary, indicating inadvisability) Ought not to."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "indicating inadvisability"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "auxiliary",
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "need not"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "need not",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "needed not",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "need not",
        "2": "-",
        "3": "needed not",
        "4": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "need not (third-person singular simple present need not, no present participle, simple past needed not, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English auxiliary verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013, Alan Chalmers, What is this thing called Science?, University of Queensland Press, page 36:",
          "text": "My example illustrates how circularity can arise in arguments that appeal to experiment. But the very same example serves to show that this need not be the case.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "do not have to, do not need to."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "necessity",
          "necessity"
        ],
        [
          "have to",
          "have to"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly UK, auxiliary, indicating absence of necessity) do not have to, do not need to."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "indicating absence of necessity"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "auxiliary",
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English auxiliary verbs",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2018 June 1, Gerard Letterie, “Education is the beacon that lights our path forward in America”, in The Seattle Times:",
          "text": "Want ads for what little manual labor there was frequently had the stipulation INNA, an acronym for Italians and Irish Need Not Apply.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Ought not to."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "inadvisability",
          "inadvisability"
        ],
        [
          "Ought",
          "ought"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(auxiliary, indicating inadvisability) Ought not to."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "indicating inadvisability"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "auxiliary",
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "not have to"
    },
    {
      "word": "needn't"
    }
  ],
  "word": "need not"
}