"needful" meaning in English

See needful in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈniːdfəl/ Audio: En-au-needful.ogg [Australia] Forms: more needful [comparative], most needful [superlative]
Etymology: From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|needeful}} Middle English needeful, {{m|enm|nedeful}} nedeful, {{inh|en|ang|nēodful|t=necessary; earnest; zealous}} Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”), {{af|en|need|-ful|pos=adjective}} need + -ful, {{cog|nl|noodvol}} Dutch noodvol, {{cog|de|notvoll}} German notvoll Head templates: {{en-adj}} needful (comparative more needful, superlative most needful)
  1. Needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensable.
    Sense id: en-needful-en-adj-bMhAlIv7
  2. (archaic) Needy; in need. Tags: archaic
    Sense id: en-needful-en-adj-oLPU7sy2
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: nedefull, needfull Derived forms: needfully, needfulness

Noun

IPA: /ˈniːdfəl/ Audio: En-au-needful.ogg [Australia] Forms: needfuls [plural]
Etymology: From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|needeful}} Middle English needeful, {{m|enm|nedeful}} nedeful, {{inh|en|ang|nēodful|t=necessary; earnest; zealous}} Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”), {{af|en|need|-ful|pos=adjective}} need + -ful, {{cog|nl|noodvol}} Dutch noodvol, {{cog|de|notvoll}} German notvoll Head templates: {{en-noun}} needful (plural needfuls)
  1. (slang) Ready money; wherewithal. Tags: slang
    Sense id: en-needful-en-noun-Rw8DO1Gk Categories (other): English adjectives suffixed with -ful, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English adjectives suffixed with -ful: 17 18 49 16 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 3 85 8
  2. (India, chiefly archaic in other dialects) Anything necessary or requisite. Tags: India, archaic, dialectal
    Sense id: en-needful-en-noun-So8zeZfk Categories (other): Indian English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: nedefull, needfull Derived forms: do the needful

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for needful meaning in English (5.5kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "needfully"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "needfulness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "needeful"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English needeful",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "nedeful"
      },
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      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "nēodful",
        "t": "necessary; earnest; zealous"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "need",
        "3": "-ful",
        "pos": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "need + -ful",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "noodvol"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch noodvol",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "notvoll"
      },
      "expansion": "German notvoll",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more needful",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most needful",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "needful (comparative more needful, superlative most needful)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "need‧ful"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "needless"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1719, “An ACT, Stating the due Aſſize of Bread”, in The Charter Granted by His Majeſty, King Charles the Second, to the Colony of Rhode-Iſland, and Providence-plantations in America, John Allen, page 59",
          "text": "And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That in every Town in the Colony, where Bread is Baken for Sale, there ſhall be Choſen one Clerk of the Market, or more, as each Town ſhall find needful, at their Annual Election of Town Officers, who ſhall duly be Engaged, to the faithful performance of ſaid Office, as other Town Officers are ;[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensable."
      ],
      "id": "en-needful-en-adj-bMhAlIv7",
      "links": [
        [
          "Needed",
          "needed"
        ],
        [
          "necessary",
          "necessary"
        ],
        [
          "mandatory",
          "mandatory"
        ],
        [
          "requisite",
          "requisite"
        ],
        [
          "indispensable",
          "indispensable"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1860, Union Society of Savannah, Minutes of the Union Society, page 114",
          "text": "[…] where his active benevolence was ever found in cheerful co-operation for the cause of the humble & needful orphan […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Needy; in need."
      ],
      "id": "en-needful-en-adj-oLPU7sy2",
      "links": [
        [
          "Needy",
          "needy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Needy; in need."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈniːdfəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-needful.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg/En-au-needful.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "nedefull"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "needfull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "needful"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "do the needful"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "needeful"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English needeful",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "nedeful"
      },
      "expansion": "nedeful",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "nēodful",
        "t": "necessary; earnest; zealous"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "need",
        "3": "-ful",
        "pos": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "need + -ful",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "noodvol"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch noodvol",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "notvoll"
      },
      "expansion": "German notvoll",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "needfuls",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "needful (plural needfuls)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "need‧ful"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "17 18 49 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English adjectives suffixed with -ful",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 3 85 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Ready money; wherewithal."
      ],
      "id": "en-needful-en-noun-Rw8DO1Gk",
      "links": [
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ],
        [
          "wherewithal",
          "wherewithal"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) Ready money; wherewithal."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Indian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Anything necessary or requisite."
      ],
      "id": "en-needful-en-noun-So8zeZfk",
      "links": [
        [
          "necessary",
          "necessary"
        ],
        [
          "requisite",
          "requisite"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(India, chiefly archaic in other dialects) Anything necessary or requisite."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "India",
        "archaic",
        "dialectal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈniːdfəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-needful.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg/En-au-needful.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "nedefull"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "needfull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "needful"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English adjectives suffixed with -ful",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "needfully"
    },
    {
      "word": "needfulness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "needeful"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English needeful",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "nedeful"
      },
      "expansion": "nedeful",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "nēodful",
        "t": "necessary; earnest; zealous"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "need",
        "3": "-ful",
        "pos": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "need + -ful",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "noodvol"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch noodvol",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "notvoll"
      },
      "expansion": "German notvoll",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more needful",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most needful",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "needful (comparative more needful, superlative most needful)",
      "name": "en-adj"
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  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "need‧ful"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "needless"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1719, “An ACT, Stating the due Aſſize of Bread”, in The Charter Granted by His Majeſty, King Charles the Second, to the Colony of Rhode-Iſland, and Providence-plantations in America, John Allen, page 59",
          "text": "And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That in every Town in the Colony, where Bread is Baken for Sale, there ſhall be Choſen one Clerk of the Market, or more, as each Town ſhall find needful, at their Annual Election of Town Officers, who ſhall duly be Engaged, to the faithful performance of ſaid Office, as other Town Officers are ;[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Needed; necessary; mandatory; requisite; indispensable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Needed",
          "needed"
        ],
        [
          "necessary",
          "necessary"
        ],
        [
          "mandatory",
          "mandatory"
        ],
        [
          "requisite",
          "requisite"
        ],
        [
          "indispensable",
          "indispensable"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1860, Union Society of Savannah, Minutes of the Union Society, page 114",
          "text": "[…] where his active benevolence was ever found in cheerful co-operation for the cause of the humble & needful orphan […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Needy; in need."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Needy",
          "needy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Needy; in need."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈniːdfəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-needful.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg/En-au-needful.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "nedefull"
    },
    {
      "word": "needfull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "needful"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English adjectives suffixed with -ful",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "do the needful"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "needeful"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English needeful",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "nedeful"
      },
      "expansion": "nedeful",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "nēodful",
        "t": "necessary; earnest; zealous"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "need",
        "3": "-ful",
        "pos": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "need + -ful",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "noodvol"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch noodvol",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "notvoll"
      },
      "expansion": "German notvoll",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English needeful, nedeful, from Old English nēodful (“necessary; earnest; zealous”). Equivalent to need + -ful. Cognate with Dutch noodvol, German notvoll.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "needfuls",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "needful (plural needfuls)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "need‧ful"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Ready money; wherewithal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ],
        [
          "wherewithal",
          "wherewithal"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) Ready money; wherewithal."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "Indian English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Anything necessary or requisite."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "necessary",
          "necessary"
        ],
        [
          "requisite",
          "requisite"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(India, chiefly archaic in other dialects) Anything necessary or requisite."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "India",
        "archaic",
        "dialectal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈniːdfəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-needful.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg/En-au-needful.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-au-needful.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "nedefull"
    },
    {
      "word": "needfull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "needful"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.