Needing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Expressing the requirement for something; lacking what is necessary or wanted
2. Indicating a demand or necessity for an item or action; being deficient in something essential
3. Describing the state of wanting or depending on something; not having enough of what is needed

Etymology: The verb "need" is a merger of two different Old English words that happened to sound alike by Middle English. One, "nīed" or "nēad," meant "necessity, compulsion, want," and it traces back to a Germanic root that some scholars connect with the idea of death, as in the sense of a pressing, life-or-death compulsion. The other, "nēodian," meant "to desire, long for," and came from a root meaning "to incline, tend, or move toward." Medieval speakers blended these into one word, so the modern sense of wanting something and the sense of having to have something both descend from the same merged form. "Needing" is the -ing form of this verb, and the ending itself comes from Old English "-ian," the suffix that formed verbs from "nēodian." That verbal ending is what gave us the modern form through Middle English "neden."

Synonyms: requiring, wanting, lacking, desiring, requesting

Antonyms: having, possessing, owning, sufficient, fulfilling